Poly, Wanna?
by LusciousNesha
Summary: Pansexual Playboy Henry Hart finally decides to settle down, with his two best friends, Jasper & Charlotte. Each have a history with him and a present with each other, and he simply can't let either of them go… Not this time around.
1. Reality Bites

_**A/N: So, I had some different ideas rushing through my head of who and how I wanted these characters to be. They may start in a place that you would not expect or can't imagine, but just keep in mind that I try to write things a little differently each incarnation of a fic and hopefully nobody checks out within the first few paragraphs. Gimme a chance. It's delicate content, and I promise I'm trying to do their relationship justice, not just write some trash that throws them all together. I will say that this may be the most adult content of all the content that I bring into this fandom, but STILL no sm*t, okay? Will definitely mention some things that take and have taken place. Enjoy, and let me know how you feel, unless you hate it. Then, Chile stop reading and go. I don't wanna waste neither of our time with that situation.**_

**Reality Bites**

Charlotte had just moved the last of her things into Jasper's apartment and was not even the least bit interested in trying to unpack, yet. She had packed two all encompassing luggage bags with all of her necessities to live out of for a moment, just in case it didn't work out wonderfully and she had to abort this mission. In the meantime, the beginning of their little life together was at least cute. Jasper had cozy surroundings. His parents didn't like for him to have things growing up, so he was one of those people who was satisfied with less. But… Charlotte was used to high quality and high maintenance, so she would definitely be turning this place around, if they lasted.

She was having some trouble getting on her feet. It wasn't that she wasn't qualified to do things. She definitely was. She went to school. She got degrees. She applied for jobs. She worked them. The thing was that she had this bad habit of putting in less effort than the company wanted. A lot of productivity rules were just busy work and programming. She only wanted to do what was necessary to get her work done. Bosses hated her for that. She was constantly getting fired and had gotten to the point where her parents were sick of it and forced her to get out of their place. "You could always go back to the Man Cave," Jasper had suggested. Yeah, right. Where _Henry _was?

He was part of the problem. She had put so much into him, into them and he simply moved on as soon as it got a little bit difficult, as was his romance method of operation. After that, she wondered why even try to hard when you could simply to whatever you had to and get good results. To be fair and honest, had she thought more about it, she might have realized that what she was actually experiencing was heartbreak and depression. But, she thought that she was just tired of people taking advantage of her.

Jasper, on the other hand had been doing fine. He wasn't doing great, but he was at least working regularly and was able to afford to take care of himself. Then again, he didn't eat healthy, keep groceries stocked, or have the best products in the place. In fact, at the moment, he had wine on the kitchen counter, half a bag of tortilla chips in the pantry, and one shelf of condiments on the door of the fridge, with beer on the top rack. So… He didn't have himself together, but he did have working water, electricity, a vehicle, a home… stuff that she was lacking on because she couldn't be happy in any career path she had tried, thus far.

But, they found each other again, after some time apart and some distance. Their friendship faltered slightly when he admitted to her some years ago (some months after she and Henry were over) that he and Henry were together. WTF? She didn't know what part of bro-code,girl code… (friendship? code) was being violated by that relationship, but she felt in her bones that it was betrayal and so, she was good on him. She was good on him a couple of years later when he apologized and told her that karma had caught up to him, because Henry had broken things off. She was good on him up until she came into this bar to meet up with a friend for a promotion celebration and he was serving drinks and let her drink for free.

It became her thing. She certainly wasn't able to buy her own drinks, not regularly, anyway, and she'd forgotten how good of a listener Jasper was. She could complain about her problems and drink them away, and she had a good listener available who wasn't going to take advantage of her if she got too drunk. After a while, it started being hanging out socially, then talking on the phone, texting, social media and finally, she began spending nights.

They didn't put any label on things. Labels made Charlotte nervous and Jasper was simply in a headspace where he just wanted to try to enjoy life, with or without someone in it, but it was wonderful to have somebody in it that he had known for so long. It was also good to know her in this new way.

By the time that she was moving in and looking for another job, they had been seeing each other for five months. That was also around the time that Henry called about his opportunity to be on a reality tv show. He called Jasper, not Charlotte, but upon learning that they lived together, invited her along, as well. The last thing that she wanted to do was see Henry, but she also didn't trust him around her Jasper, so she went along just to feel him out.

Whenever they got to the place, Junk N Stuff was gone, as were several of the neighbors to it and now there was this brownstone and Charlotte was confused, but Jasper went right inside, like he'd been here before. There was a doorman there that looked familiar to Charlotte, but she didn't know why. "Hey, Gooch. What's up?"

"Gooch?" She repeated and took a look at the guy. He _did _look like the Gooch she remembered, but he was much younger. "Wait, did Schwoz find some kind of way to reverse aging or something?"

Jasper laughed and said, "It's Gooba's son. Finding out about him was one of the reasons he left. Anyway, we can talk about that later." Gooch's son was staring at Charlotte. He looked a little bit younger than them, but not so much that he wouldn't have been a full kid whenever they initially worked with Gooch. Anyway, she smiled politely and kept following Jasper.

"How long has this been here?" She wondered.

"Couple years."

"It's conspicuous. What does Henry even do that people would reasonably believe that he could have this built and live here?" She wondered.

"You… really have chosen to fully avoid him, huh?" Jasper asked.

"He's the worst. I don't need that kind of energy. Mine already sucks." Whenever they entered the place that she guessed was Henry's she quickly had that confirmed by the huge, wall sized painting of himself, nude, but covered gingerly with flowers, in a flower crown with flowers what, falling from the sky? She sighed at the painting, rolled her eyes and they followed his voice.

"Well, I don't have the time for that type of contract, Levi! I'm about to be in talks for my new show…" He noticed them and smiled, waving them inside, "And I have guests arriving now. No, not clients. I told you, I don't have appointments today. Look, just fix it. I'll talk to you later." He hung up and turned around, "Char!" He said, excitedly and rushed to hug her and pick her up from the ground. "You look gorgeous. I see your teeth are still perfect and you've let your hair and skin join the perfection club, as well."

"They always were, but thanks for noticing." She blushed and looked at the ground as Henry went to hug Jasper, too.

"And you! Buddy… You gonna cut the beers, or nah?"

"Char's fine with the beer belly."

"It's not a beer belly," she cut in. "He's always been a little bit gooey."

"He wasn't with me," Henry said and gave Jasper a smile that said that he was thinking of those days, or nights, or… whatever.

Charlotte stepped in between them and reminded him, "Well, he isn't with you."

"Right! The two of you, now. So… That's interesting. Unless both of you have changed drastically, I never would have pegged you two to be sexually compatible."

"What, are you a professional sexual compatibility… person?" Charlotte asked.

Henry smiled and corrected her, "Liscensed sex therapist, with special focus on sex positive therapy." She sighed. Of COURSE, he'd get a degree on sex. "Don't look like that. My work is very important! I help save marriages. I help people not hate themselves for being normal. What kind of fancy schmancy science is keeping Charlotte Page's attention these days."

"The kind where I bring drinks to tables until I get back into another lab."

"Her bad attitude gets her fired a lot," Jasper said.

"Not my bad attitude. Corporations' insistence on overworking people who know better than to allow themselves to be used," she corrected.

"Having a money issue?" Henry wondered.

"I haven't found the right lab yet, that is it," she insisted.

"Okay. Well, if, while you're looking, you don't mind having a camera or two pointed in your face, I want to invite you two to be a part of the cast for my new reality show adventure."

"How the heck are you gonna have a reality show whenever half of your life is a secret?" Charlotte wondered. "Wait… Are you no longer Swellview's hero? Because, I will definitely work in the Man Cave if you're not gonna be there."

"I am the new hero man of Swellview. Captain Man is still working, because he is indestructible and not super old yet. But, yes, we are partners."

"Are you Man Danger?" Charlotte asked.

"He's Dr. FeelGood," Jasper said.

"MISTER FeelGood. Dr. Feel Good is copywritten."

"Both are corny," Charlotte said.

"You're a waitress who has like seven degrees," Henry said.

"Ouch," she replied.

"To answer the question you asked before the cascade of shade that you threw me, I'm gonna do the show with production that knows that I'm Mister FeelGood, so they will never record or release anything that has me working in that way, because they work for me." Charlotte raised her hand. "Yes?"

"So… Was Man Danger unavailable in the superhero names database, Danger just too vague? Captain Danger too much like Captain Man? Like… what possessed you to go to Mister FeelGood?"

Henry smiled and rolled his eyes then pointed to Jasper, "You in?"

"In? Like… What is the show even about? Just following you around and recording all of your life when you aren't fighting crime?"

"It… Is about me coming out of the shadow of all of my Swellview celebrity friends and trying to become a Swellview celebrity, in my own rite."

"Swellview has celebrities?" Charlotte wondered.

"Whenever I go places, people still say things to me like, "Hey - you used to be friends with that science girl, Charlotte. Whatever happened to her? Or, hey - do you ever still talk to Jasper Dunlop? It was so cool that he was a real hero, much like Kid Danger. I thought WAS Kid Danger, at some point! Or, what's happened to the guy who used to own that junk shop? He doesn't get voted for as the most handsome man in Swellview anymore. Did he die?" Charlotte and Jasper were both laughing and leaning on each other. Henry said, "I have my own private practice. I help people in my daily life and I'm a superhero. I would like to be seen as something other than the guy who's dated TWO girls from Kids in the Woods."

"OH MY GOD!" Charlotte said and cackled.

"I totally forgot about that! And I just had spa day with them last month!" Jasper said.

"With Bianca and Chloe?" Henry wondered.

"Yep. They started taking me with them after you and I broke up. There's a Henry Hartbreak Plan, so you're definitely not riding on just our forgotten celebrity alone."

"A Henry Hartbreak Plan?" Charlotte repeated.

"It's a boost of vitamins and painkillers, a punching bag workout set to music, a shower. massage, detox, and a long snuggly nap. The spa owner has some history with Hen, too."

Henry sighed and pointed at finger at Jasper, "That was mostly in her head!"

"That spa day sounds valuable. You didn't tell me about all that. You just said Girls Day with the Hartbroken Club."

"Come next time," Jasper said.

Henry watched the two of them talking. They were both still extremely attractive and each had that lovers' glow with each other. It made him miss them, both. He missed their friendships and he missed being with them. Of course, those were two separate relationships, but he missed those relationships. He had never had anyone like either of them before. He thought that he would never get over Jasper and still wasn't, but the surprise of seeing Char again, and her being even more perfect than he'd remembered… He was unsure of how he had ever gotten over her. Looking at them both right now, he realized that he hadn't. He just thought that he had. "It's only a thousand dollars per episode for this first season, if it even goes beyond that, but…"

"I'm in," Charlotte said.

"I could use an extra couple of thousand, as well," Jasper said.

"Cool… Why don't you let Bianca and Chloe know. Of course, everyone will have to speak with my production team on camera to see what they think, but… I believe that they'd like to have all of the components of my celebrity associations for this thing."

"So, does that mean that Piper is involved?" Charlotte wondered.

"We can't really pay Piper to be involved, but she did tell me that if the show makes waves, then we'll talk…" He was barely done with his comment and Charlotte was laughing at him. "She told me that you two still talk, though. She didn't give me your number."

"I girl coded her not to years ago, when I changed it," Charlotte said.

"My assistant Levi will need it, to let you know about appointments and stuff."

"It's cut off. Just call Jasper. We live together," she said with a shrug.

"You _live _together? It's… that serious?" he wondered, a little bit heartbroken, though he wasn't sure from which one, but leaning towards both.

"I mean… It's going great," Jasper said and wrapped an arm around Charlotte.

Henry nodded, and blinked away the sadness that he felt might show in his eyes. "Well, congrats on that. You two deserve to be happy, more than anybody else that I know." He reached forward to pull both of them into a hug. Jasper returned it, but Charlotte froze up, and he noticed that she'd done so earlier too. He pulled back and looked at the two of them. They clung to each other as they both fought to tear their eyes away from Henry's face, so neither of them had seen their reactions to him, but he had seen both. "Later," they said. Henry smiled and saw them out. So, they were in for the show at least. He hoped that the cameras wouldn't catch too much of all of that emotion that was floating through the room.


	2. Born This Way

**Born This Way**

Getting into the jeep, Charlotte put the key into the ignition, paused and said, "I have to tell you something. I don't know how to feel about things, right now."

He looked a little panicked, "What? About me?" He asked in a kind of tiny voice.

"No. About all of that," she gestured one of her hands towards the brownstone and shook her head, "I mean, on the one hand there's not a person in this world that I dislike more than Henry Prudence Hart. Seeing him again just brought back a lot of that. Of the dislike, the love, the hurt. Because, that dislike comes from a place of hurt, because there's also not a person in this world that I've loved more than him and he just… you know… didn't even care at all."

Jasper took her shaking hand into his and assured her, "Look, I know that feeling, but I promise you, he did care. He didn't know how to show it, but he really loved you when you were together and he was extremely hurt when it ended. He knew it was his fault and he hated that he had hurt you. But, also, if you think you can't do this, we can call him up right now and tell him we're out. He's resourceful. He'll manage."

"I really want to do it, though. I think it might give me a chance to kind of be seen for who I am and explain myself. To my parents, you know? To familiars that might tune in. Maybe it'll help me take a look at myself, even? You know? Jasper, I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing, but I have to start somewhere in figuring it out. I can't just coast by on autopilot." He nodded his head, kissed her hand and let it go. "So, you seemed fine, though. How often do you see him?"

He paused and shook his head, "Not often at all, but anytime I do see him, it's almost like nothing's changed. Like, I forget for a moment that we went through the things that we went through. That he put me through what he out me through. It's like he charms me into being warm with him and then I walk away and wonder why I was so cordial and why I seemed to forget my anger when he's there, but remember it when he isn't. But… I figure that's because he wants me to forget about it. Henry is cunning. He helps people look at relations and find solutions. He can finesse an ex or two in a heartbeat and not bat an eye. When all is said and done, that part of my life is over with and me still being angry about it is only gonna hurt me. So, I just shake it off."

"Like the Devil," Charlotte said and nodded. Jasper raised an eyebrow. She was finally ready to start driving, humming the tune to "Shake the Devil Off," as she did.

.

To be clear, Henry was her first. She had consciously made a decision, and he was her top choice. She grew up with what she now classified as "two potentials." That was Henry Hart and Jasper Dunlop. They were both stupid, gross boys for her childhood days, but eventually there was puberty and the hormones mingled with the close proximity swayed that viewpoint a little bit. She could honestly say that she felt like she had crushes on both of them, at different times - like when they needed her, or when they weren't annoying her, or being stupid… So… you know, a little bit here and there.

It wasn't until her mother decided that it was time for "the talk" that she ever really thought about it, though. Honestly, she was friends with them and for her, that meant that she loved them. She wasn't thinking about dating or anything sexual, really, though she had imagined a kiss or a hand hold or something and figured whenever she was ready to try it, it would be with a friend. She only had two, so it wasn't something she had to juggle, or anything.

The talk for her was a painful and irritating experience. Charlotte had to have several "the talk" talks with her mother. She had one when she first went to school. She was going to be out in the world, by herself and needed to know about the danger of strangers and the threat of racial discrimination. Her mother had taught her that whenever she was in trouble, try to find a Black woman, "you know, yours and Mommy's color," because 'find an adult' just wasn't sufficient for many kids, much less for a Black one and even though Black women weren't perfect, by a longshot, Mrs. Page leaned on the side of hope that one would see herself in the young girl and attempt to assist her. There were just too many horror stories for her to feel comfortable advising her to find just any adult.

She had one when the school first contacted Mrs. Page about Charlotte's "unruly hair." That was more of Mrs. Page coming down to the school and reading everybody in the administration office for filth about her beautiful daughter's natural hair, with her own big afro swinging with the sway of her head. She had fussed at those people and educated them at the same time, right before withdrawing Charlotte from the school and enrolling her at Swellview Elementary. Charlotte learned a lot that day, so she considered it a talk. The ride home was her mother telling her about how when she was little, her grandmother put chemicals in her hair to make it straight and that half of it fell out and some parts still didn't grow properly. She told her that businesses and institutions often tried to penalize girls like them for how they were naturally made. "Not because there's anything wrong with you, but because there's something wrong with them. There's something evil inside and they don't even know it, but it's thought to be normal to say that a child has ugly features because they don't look exactly like white girls'. If you ask me, that's what's ugly - saying that a child needs to change her looks just because! You're healthy, clean, clothed, and happy. Never let their judgement change that last one. It isn't worth it."

The talk whenever she "became a young lady," was more like a Q and A, fill in the blank type talk. She'd asked her if she knew what was happening to her body, instead of presuming that she needed it explained, and then she filled in the parts that Charlotte was not exactly clear on. And her mom was the best about periods. She hadn't heard many stories from friends about it. But Mrs. Page had "period packs," which included vitamins, medication specifically for this time, a selection of sanitary supplies for fluctuation in the flow, heating pads, safe period snacks (stuff that you're actually supposed to eat, as opposed to the crap your body might crave), a fun period journal, a scream pillow, and books about it by Black gynecologists or specifically targeting Black girls.

At this point, some of you may be thinking, "Wow, Charlotte's mom is OBSESSED with Blackness/Black girl things…" And the short answer is, yes. She feels like she has to make sure that Charlotte didn't have to relearn how to treat herself and love herself in her body, in this town. Which… isn't an openly bigoted town, but an American town with a low population of other Black people. All subject matter generally has whiteness and their experiences as a default and an audience. Charlotte's mother internalized a lot as a dark skinned girl child with "nappy" hair that needed straightening and next to no representation in media or her environment. She didn't want Charlotte to ever have to battle loving herself. She had promised, before she was ever born that she would be a different kind of mother than the self-loathing woman who brought her up. Anywho…

The "some people say the birds and the bees, but this is really about your body and what you want to do with it," talk was something else. It was the first time since that racism one she had going into Kindergarten that she was confused about every part of this. Now, her mother never gave her anything to have to relearn about her hair, her skin, or her body itself… But what she wanted to do with it? That woman had Charlotte ALL discombobulated after their talk.

Mostly due to "the choice." They had went through the biology - yes, Charlotte was a girl, she knew it and didn't have any other thoughts or need any hormone blockers, or have any dysmorphia or even general questions about her gender identity. She had always been a girl and never had a doubt. But, taking that time to learn about transgender identities and her cis-privilege was extremely fascinating to her and stuck with her. "Just how you would want someone to treat you with the respect you deserve and have your back in spaces where they have privilege, I hope that I've raised you to stick up for those who don't." Of course. They went through the process of the reproductive system via sexual intercourse and the possibility of same sex attraction. Charlotte didn't _think _that she was attracted to girls, but she couldn't say for sure, because honestly, at that point, she wasn't _exactly _sexually attracted to boys either. So, her mom covered some same sex topics, as well, just in case and stressed the importance of Charlotte knowing that she wouldn't judge her and would love her no matter what. So, HERE'S where Charlotte's confusion came in…

Because, she was too young to know the terminology for all of this and because it wasn't really an accepted form of relationship status - she couldn't really grasp the concept where her mother said things like, "When you choose a partner," or "the person that you are involved with," or "the boy (or girl) that you like and want to share yourself with."

"So what if it winds up being boys AND girls?" she wondered. Her mom gave her a description of bisexuality and how she'd still be able to consider herself as such, even if she was with a boy. "Yeah, but what if I'm with a boy AND a girl, I mean? Like, at the same time?" Her mother looked uncomfortable, but explained that sometimes people had threesomes, but warned her that it wasn't always good for people to do. Sometimes, it hurt their relationship with (here was that phrase again) "the person that they're actually involved with."

Charlotte sighed, "Okay. But, like… I feel like I'm not expressing myself very clearly. I mean like… What if I have a boyfriend, and at the same time, I have a girlfriend? I mean, they offer two different things, really any two individuals can, two boys, for instance, or three, you know? I'm asking you, relationship-wise, I guess, what is the reasonable way to have relationships like that?"

Her mother now looked kind of horrified for a moment, and she didn't usually look at Charlotte that way, so immediately, red flags went off and Charlotte just knew that she had entered into a space that was unacceptable and now they were there and she would have to tough it out. At that moment (she realized much later), she internalized some disdain for herself, because of her mother's reaction to a question that Charlotte identified with.

"Well, that sounds like cheating, to me," her mother said. "Sometimes, they do stuff like that in sex cults and hippy communes," she said. "But, civilized people don't date two of three boys. Ladies, if they're good and respect themselves will only date one person at a time and just pour all that love that they think that they have to spread around into that person."

She winced, but she really needed to clarify to her mom, because what if her mother thought she was some depraved sex cult potential, because of this. Surely, there was a classy way to explain her feelings… "But, what happens if you like more than one person at the same time, but for different reasons, and they like you back? What if the two people are very different and you love each of them, a lot and have the love to pour into both?"

Her mother nodded and blew out a gust of air. Charlotte felt like she still must've been explaining her feelings wrong. Her mom just said, "Well, in that case, you just have to figure out _what's best _for you, and remember that you can't have it all."

Charlotte asked, "So, if I like them both and they both like me, and - I should have said this part earlier - they're fine with sharing me with each other, and me pouring love into both of them, I should just pick one of them? They're equals, but individuals. I can't find in one what I have in the other, and everyone is fine with it. That's okay, right? That's a consensual and valid thing, yeah?" She asked, getting more nervous with each troubled movement of her mother's eyebrows.

"Charlotte… are you having feelings for two boys?" She asked.

"No!" She lied, having already seen that her mother would disapprove if she admitted the truth and feeling super guilty about lying about something like this, because she and her mom were pretty tight with their talks and this one was going completely off the rails. "I'm just still learning."

Her mother nodded, "Well, to that person, I would say, sure… you can do whatever you want and be with whoever you want, as long as nobody gets hurt, but I would have to seriously wonder how possible it is for such a dynamic to continue _without _anybody getting hurt." And that was that on that. Charlotte felt like if she ever did what she now knew to be a "polyamorous" relationship, somebody might get hurt. She still to this day felt like that, even though technically, she knew better. It was more accepted now and it was valid for those who were actually seeking it, not just some of the people like her mother probably imagined who just cheated on people and claimed to be poly, without ever acknowledging things for their partners.

But, on that day, of that talk… She made a choice. The "best" choice. She chose Henry. Not out loud, or even to his face, but in the back of her mind, as that person. The one that she might date. The one that she might kiss. The one that she might hold hands with, or whatever else. In the back of her mind, because once again, she wasn't thinking about sex, at all, or romance, or marriage, or anything of the sort. As long as she could still be friends with both of her boys, she had everything she needed for the era that she was living in. The only reason that she felt like she was even thinking about all of this now was because she'd subconsciously made that choice, all those years ago, and whenever it did come up, she made the choice out loud. It was clearly the wrong goddamned choice, considering! So, she backtracked and made the other choice and by the way, the way that she was feeling about Jasper, she would have loved to have been hip enough to make this choice a long time ago!

Jasper was the epitome of carefree and could be the poster boy for self love and positivity movements. He always made everybody around him feel warm and cared for. He was a loving friend and dedicated lover. He loved you more than he loved himself, which was saying a lot, because he loved himself so much that he ALWAYS knew that he was dope in a crop top, even when everybody thought he was on some BS. He felt fine with that 11th toe above his ankle and sometimes, jokingly called it his 'ankle rack,' he wore an anklet that went sideways because he'd not put it beneath the thing, and he got his outie pierced, It had a damn bucket charm hanging from it. Motherfucker used to call himself a buckateer! In mixed company!

They pulled up home and she simply smiled at him. He smiled back and looked a little confused, but still happy, "What?" He wondered.

"I wish I would have skipped him and gotten to you, first," she said.

He smiled wider, but tilted his head a little, in disagreement. "I'm glad that you found me when you did. I think that the things that I've experienced have been really good foundation for building things with you. Like… You know, you've gotta make a few mistakes before you realize what you're doing and I'm glad that I've made my mistakes with other people, so that you can have the best version of me to be with now."

She sighed and turned off the jeep, "Alright. Let's get inside. My entire body is ready." He chuckled, getting out of the vehicle and collected her from behind while she was trying to run inside to get busy. "Hey," he said gently. She turned and looked at him. "I'm sorry that he hurt you, but I'm glad that he lost you, because of what I have."

"Dude! My panties are literally melting off. Are you trying to make me jump you, right here?" She asked. He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder and she let out a playful scream-laugh that probably got at least a couple of nosy neighbors glancing out to see what was happening. Sure, Henry stirred up some pain today, but this was the end result. Jasper was right. This was the best version of him. Her mother had been wrong. She could have everything. As of right now, that's precisely what Jasper TBD Dunlop was.


	3. A Very Henry Morning

_A/N: Anonymous Guest - If you'd like to have a chat about these things, say it with your chest, and I'll say my part. We'll have an exchange. If you want to use the space set aside for reviews without identification or giving me the opportunity to reply to you personally, then I have to give you the two cents here and everyone has to be subjected to it. It's an M rating story, so I'll presume you have your big girl panties on and can take a reply and for anyone else around, in case they have some confusion about my stand on these things, this applies to all._

_I just want to remind everybody that this is free labor and if you want somebody to do anything on your timetable, you oughtta go ahead and fund them. You don't? Cool. Take wtf they're willing to give you. Or leave it. None of us have to be here. If you're here because you would love to read a story that I am currently writing, I'd love for you to stick around and will give you the best story that my skills have to offer, free of charge and therefore not obliged to demands. If you're here to be an executive producer with a production schedule, you made a wrong turn at the intersection of Fuck You and Pay Me. Thanks for your time. I understand if ours together has come to an end. Read what brings you what you want to see and feel, and I'll write what brings me that WHEN I write it! _

_I will abandon this and delete it before turning over authority on what happens here to anybody, or subjecting myself to being treated like a content mule. Juneteenth happened, Sis. You don't have no slaves here. In the immortal words of my mama, and many-a-Black-mamas, "I'm not one of your lil' friends." You better approach me like you got some sense if you trying to ASK ME to do something for my consideration. Peace and many blessings. And now, my update…_

**A Very Henry Morning**

Henry generally woke up in just enough time to blend some juice and watch the sunrise over Swellview, the city that he fought everyday to protect. It was a lasting ritual, from whenever he was with Charlotte. She would always get up super early for yoga and meditation, blend them some juice, then, he'd get up and watch the sun rise with her. The first time, she tapped him to wake him and said, "Sorry to wake you, but you've gotta see this." He quickly rushed out of bed, wondering if a Swellview emergency was underway. This was more important! She went to the balcony of their apartment, cute body clad in her yoga gear and just stared at the rising sun, in awe. "It's like whenever the day starts anew, not only is it another chance to get things a little more right, but she really brings the day in, in style." Charlotte was smiling as the morning got gradually brighter and staring at the lifebringing star until it became too bright to behold. Henry was looking at her.

He wanted to ask her if she really thought that was worth waking him up this early, knowing that he went to sleep late at night after crime fighting, but just the way she drank it all in and the way it became a little brighter and a little warmer as he drank her in… Instead, he'd said, "Tomorrow, wake me up earlier! We almost missed it," and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Presently, he had been doing this without her now for 6 years. "She really brings the day in, in style," he would say out loud to himself, every time. For years, he did it hoping that Charlotte was somewhere out there, doing the same and that for that moment in time, they were connected again. He would imagine her in whatever her current form had been from (cyberstalking her) and he would recall the way that she looked whenever they first did this.

When he was with Jasper, he didn't share that moment with him. It seemed unfair to Charlotte, even though even being involved with Jasper was another betrayal of sorts, the sunrise was holy. It was set apart. It was a part of he and Char that was too big, too bright for anybody, even her to ever be able to take away from him… and he was too selfish to share it with anybody else, even Jasper.

Now, his internal clock was set to make the juice and go to the terrace. He watched the sunrise and then, and only then was he willing to begin his day. Henry usually finished off his juice before the sun rose fully and put the glass into the wash when he came back in. He grabbed his watering pot and went to water all of his plants that needed it and simply check in with the ones that didn't. "The sunrise was beautiful today. Forecast is that she might scorch you if I let you outside, but I'll definitely let her in, so she can kiss you all on your little faces," he said. He himself kissed flowers. He himself touched them lovingly, talked to them, asked nothing more of them than for them to be healthy and flourish, but sometimes shared his life with them. Henry had a therapist, but he knew whenever he spoke to his therapist that he was speaking to a therapist and he, as a therapist sometimes worried about whether he was handling his own therapy properly, or if his fears got into the way of his needs. Speaking with his plants helped him to figure out when he was being unreasonable, irrational, or counterproductive. Because, the way that he spoke with them was like one would a child that they love with their whole heart, explaining things for them to understand, and being honest and realistic, but protecting them from one's own problems. Accountability mattered when you spoke with someone you loved. You would honestly do whatever you could to make sure that they don't see you differently and make the declarations to better yourself to them. He did that with his plants, then shared the genuine portions that he walked away with for therapy. They kept him honest.

He kept a 3 foot garden statue of Blodeuwedd in his home and had various depictions of her flowers form in artwork all over the place, along with other deities, myths, legends associated with flowers. He'd keep statues nearby the plants to "protect them," in that way that a dad looks underneath the bed and in the closet for monsters. He'd collected Flora, Khloris, Hegemone, among others but, Blodeuwedd was his favorite, for some reason. Unless you counted Dionysus! Now, one thing about that guy was that he was known mostly for his partying, yeah? Wine, fertility, ritual madness… People generally thought orgies and drunkenness… which… make no mistake, Henry was not opposed to and would even call himself a fan, but Dionysus was also, among these other fun things, god of the grape harvest… He was a god of fruitfulness and vegetation! Henry felt like it was unfair to simply see him as a wild hedonist when he was to thank for fertility and cultivation. Henry was pro-fair… And maybe, just maybe identified with the demigod, just a little bit.

Folk rarely saw the portion of Henry that loved as hard as he did when he experienced the sun saying good morning to all of nature and made his first moves of her arrival an offering to those who could not live without her. Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Henry Hart is no mystic. He doesn't worship the sun, the plants, or any of the gods and goddess spread around his home for the aesthetics. But, whenever he spent time with these plants, whenever he gave love to his flowers, he believed in something greater than himself, and that was all of the faith that he needed to go out and protect this world everyday.

People were fine, or whatever… but also they were human. They were the threats to nature, to the earth, the environment, and all that the sun shone on everyday. Mister Feelgood never had to fight an animal. It was always people that did the evil that required his life's work to exist. Many moons ago, he had fought a bear, but since then wondered if other steps might have been taken. Captain Man was not one to really do the sensible thing in a fight scenario.

As he got older, Henry tried to figure out ways to best avoid a fight. He was fast approaching 30, probably would reach it before he knew it, and he was in great shape - the best shape of his life, but he also knew that this vessel expiration date. He wasn't Captain Man. He wasn't indestructible, and some of his peers were already discussing that the warranties on their knees had lapsed. A few years ago, he might have replied, "RIP to them, but I'm different." But, he was showing signs of power failure, himself. He became sore more easily than he did as Kid Danger, well, since the early days, at least. He was sore all of the time from ages 13-15. He thought it would never stop. That his body would ache for the rest of his life.

By 16, he was accustomed to his hypermotility, trained to perfection in its usage and skilled beyond his wildest thoughts in fighting technique. He didn't have a single pain for almost 2 years. Then, Rick Twitler stripped him of that. The soreness increased, as he spent more energy to get used to things, but he adjusted pretty quickly and became just as trained and skilled with his normal Henry body. It worked out for him for years, in and out of that outfit. But, by 25, he started getting a little more tired than usual.

He worked on his diet and regulated his energy levels better. Within another year, he started feeling like he needed more sleep at night. He began a vitamin regimen and looked into some natural remedies for fatigue and sleep deprivation. Now, even his libido was changing. Pre-Charlotte Henry kissed strangers, made out with hot villains, hooked up with any cute flavor that would give him the time of day. That seemed to be normal teenage behavior, in his mind. Post-Charlotte Henry was a little more reserved for a while. He'd had this life changing relationship, failed at it, and wanted to proceed with either extreme self destruction, or instant carnal gratification. There was no in between. He either was a hermit, or a hoe, for months after they broke up, and only tried to moderate that whenever he began seeing Jasper.

Unfortunately for Jasper, Post-Charlotte Henry was still suffering when he picked up what they had, so… while he was truly trying, he still had the tendency to accelerate from hubby to harlot goals in a heartbeat. Unfortunately for Jasper, Henry had not yet gotten to the point where he could honestly and objectively take a look at his own fuckery and see where he messed up and he certainly wasn't about tackling sorting through his own heartbreak so that he wouldn't become one of those hurt people who hurt people. Unfortunately for Henry, Jasper was a keeper, and he was still so heartbroken that he lost the one keeper that he could acknowledge back then, that he lost ANOTHER. _How the fuck did you throw away two keepers, you egotistical, emotionally stunted, self-centered, sex crazed… _He stopped himself. _Speak about your mistakes in the same way that you would speak to a friend about theirs. When you have no friends that you can think of, though… Speak to yourself like you would speak to the lost ones. To Charlotte. To Jasper…_

He grabbed his hygiene bag - it was like a tactical control bag, but full of his facial and skin care, dental products, and his cleansing and fragrance supplies. The bag was full of things that he used on a daily basis, and also his weekly and monthly care. Henry took care of himself. His hair, skin, and teeth were always a priority that he was sure rubbed off from Char, too. Hell, they were together the first 4 years after graduation. Those were formative years for him. He used to wash his face and body with the same damn soap, his face with his hands and his body with a loofah that he always kept until it fell apart. He used to brush his teeth within 40 seconds. His hair took the most time of everything he did and all he ever did was wash it with a shampoo and conditioner 2 in 1… and if he ran out, the same damn soap he washed his face and body with!

Charlotte got him into separate cleaners and applicators. Like, whenever he washed his face, he didn't even do so in the shower, because he had an entire process to make sure his face was well cared for and the shower wash wouldn't be timed right for it. Usually, he did wipe his face in the shower, because of washing his hair and the water and steam, but he didn't really wash it until he did his face after the shower. The shower itself, he would wash his hair, let conditioner set in it and then wash his body, some of his parts had different cloths, ALL of the cloths went into the laundry when he finished washing up. He always moisturized his damp skin, and put on his deodorant before his facial routine, which was kind of extensive, but had him looking better at 27 than he had at 17, meanwhile… not to say that Jasper looked _bad, _but… He definitely hadn't aged as well as Henry and Char had and perhaps she'd help him, like she helped Henry.

Her influence had helped him become the casanova that he dreamed himself to be when he was younger. Though lately, his desire had been limited. He didn't even get off on the thrill of the chase anymore. He was super focused on this television project, so he thought maybe that might be affecting things. He wondered and worried if throughout recording that he might have to play up his sexual conquests so that his life would look more like it had looked for the past few years, or if the show would simply redefine him, or worse, make him look like he was faking for TV, since he didn't seem to want to go on any dates at the moment. He always went on dates. People knew that. If he wasn't on a date, he was at a party and he was coming home with somebody's date.

He had family game night at his parents' neighbors' house a couple of weeks before and whenever they were playing word association games. Someone said Henry, and every member of his family said one of the following list: Slut, sex, and STD. He didn't want to say who said what but at the same time that he told Piper, "I have never once had an STD. I'm a sex therapist for crying out loud!" his mother was asking his father, "Why would you say SEX?" And his "I'm a sex therapist for crying out loud!" Conveniently replied to both Piper and his mom. But… he was still a little embarrassed. Nobody said gardening or flowers. Nobody said therapist. Nobody said even the word that he had been to them for 27 years, 21 for Piper - son, brother, dude who lived with us? He sighed. That was worse than that time that one of Piper's friends referred to him, not even as Piper's promiscuous brother… "What was the point of the adjective?" he'd asked.

He wasn't embarrassed so much as hurt, a little bit. Because all throughout his adolescence, nobody knew him outside of being a friend to hometown faves. Charlotte Page, the smartest girl in town. Jasper Dunlop, a hero and an activist against unjust laws. Ray Manchester, the longest running most handsome man in Swellview. Piper "the Queen of Harts," child commercial actress and self made public figure/influencer. And someone actually told him, "Honestly, I don't think anybody would care how many chicks you banged if you weren't Piper Hart's brother. You're a sex therapist and probably a sex addict and you have a sister who began the Holdin' Out for a Hero chastity challenge."

Little did that person know, that challenge got Mister Feelgood as much ass as Henry Hart. But, now, for some reason, he couldn't even think about doing that. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him until today's shower. Up until then, he just presumed he was getting old and tired of it. Like, dating was exhausting sometimes and parties seemed louder than they used to. Sex? Still awesome. That could never change, but… whenever he had the chance for any, he would prefer to pass.

He had a date the night that he asked Jasper to speak with him about the venture. "I wanna ask Charlotte, as well, but I still have no access to her," Henry said, casually. There wasn't a hint of sadness in his voice or even in his heart at that moment, because it had been nearly seven years and Charlotte being out of the loop and out of his life was commonplace, now.

"Does it pay, because I can probably get her to entertain the thought, if it does?" Jasper asked.

"Who are you talking about?" Henry heard a voice ask in the close background… Like real close… like.. Either hovering right over Jasper's shoulder, or sitting in his lap close.

"Shhh. You," Jasper said. Like… their voices seemed to be coming from the same place.

"Don't you SHHH me!" She snapped and it was right in Henry's ear! Like she was holding the phone. Even with her being loud and angry in his ear, this was one of the sweetest sounds Henry had heard in years. Her actual voice. She sounded different, older, but pretty much the same. Her language and tone definitely brought back memories. All he had was old footage of her at different times. This was more than he bargained for whenever he called Jasper's phone. He didn't even know that they were in communication with each other and they sounded… so close…

She and Jasper were fussing and sounded like tussling, probably Jasper trying to move the phone away as he softly said, "Henry's asking me about meeting up with him at the old spot about some business."

"Oh," she said, and then her voice faded into the background saying, "Well, yeah, I'd talk to Henry for money, I guess."

Jasper whispered something to her that Henry couldn't hear, then it sounded like he kissed her? Then it sounded like she giggled. Henry… felt… so odd in that moment. Jasper returned to the call and said, "Sorry. Charlotte knocked me off of the bed," he laughed.

"The bed?" Henry repeated, halfway in a daze, halfway like he didn't understand the word or phrase _the bed _was what you said about _your bed. _Was he and Charlotte in this bed together?

"Yeah," Jasper seemed to read his mind. "You.. haven't seen any of my posts tagging her?"

"No, she has me blocked on everything."

"Yeah, but I don't."

"She actually went into the programs and made them to where Schwoz can't hack her, so I'm sure she's got a way for me to not even be able to see her through someone else's feed."

"Oh… well…" Jasper laughed a little bit uncomfortably. He had thought that Henry knew, but he could tell that he was just putting it together, "We're a couple now!" He cheered. "It's still new, but… yeah.."

Henry wasn't quite sure which of the multitude of emotions would wind up taking over for the night, but in that moment while he let a silent tear fall, he cleared his throat, put on his happiest voice and said, "That's awesome for both of you! You two deserve people like each other. Bring her along to the brownstone for the meeting, then. That'll be good.." After he hung up, he cancelled his date. He didn't want to put his mixture of emotions on anyone else tonight. That night, he opened a bottle of wine that he was saving for some special occasion or another… He never really had special occasions, so mostly wine that he saved for special occasions either remained right where they were, or rarely, there were nights like that night, where the occasion was that he found out the love of his life and the person he regretted hurting the most were together… and he didn't know which one of them was which, even as he contemplated that fact. Both of them were, in their own ways, the love of his life. Charlotte had been his first love. Jasper had been his second chance. He didn't fully grasp either of their importance until their presences were snatched away. Neither of them are that foolish. They'll recognize what they have in each other and it will last forever. His lost ones. The ones that got away. They'll have a great love. A beautiful love. A strong love. And… he might not ever be able to witness it, if he can't charm Charlotte into putting up with him, but maybe worse, he'll be able to and have access to her, then he'll see it take place and mourn from the outside that they had (what they deserved) without him. He drank the entire bottle and fell asleep on the daybed on the terrace. He hadn't felt sexual since then.

But, after he met up with Charlotte and Jasper, something happened. He grabbed his hygiene bag, like we covered before, he went to prep and recalled how Charlotte helped him step his game up, then he was thinking about when they used to share showers. She liked that. Sharing showers and stories in the steam, washing each other's backs and each other's hair, kissing, touching, oiling each other up to nourish the skin… everything else.

He wondered as he was washing off if she was doing that with Jasper now… Making him hotter, cleaner, flawless, while engaging in conversations that bring them closer together and just being sexy AF in the process. If they were in the shower, kissing, touching… everything else and before he knew it, he definitely was feeling sexual again. His libido had not failed him after all. It was the shower, so he made quick work of handling his business and moving along. However, when he got out of the shower, and prepared to do his face, he saw that he looked refreshed. He looked happy again. He at least looked like he was himself, again. So… Maybe he wouldn't be on any dates any time soon, but fantasizing about Charlotte and Jasper wasn't harming anyone and seemed to help him a lot this morning. So, that was what he would do, if he needed _that. _


	4. Jasper, Interrupted

**Jasper, Interrupted**

Jasper didn't know if he wanted to do the interview for the show at Henry's place, as Henry invited everyone to do. Instead, he told them to just video call him and they could record that. He liked to be within his own element and he had made his home a safe space for him emotionally and mentally. He sort of had to, after his time spent with Henry. To say that Henry _did this to him, _was unfair and exaggerated. Sometimes, it had felt like that, but Jasper was now of the mindset that whatever things he accepted from others was what he should expect from others. Therefore, what he expected from others became all that he would accept from others. The call came through his computer and he answered it, smiling, "Hello! Hi. I'm Jasper," he said.

"Hi, Jasper!" A team of three - two guys and a woman said in unison.

One of the guys said, "Basically, we just ask you a few questions, you can say as much or as little as you wish to at this point. Keep in mind that your answers will help us to decide what degree of exposure that we want to give you on the show, and also that anything said here may possibly be brought into the show, as per the contract that we emailed you."

"Got it," he said and absentmindedly pressed his hand against a pinscreen that he had nearby, playing the pins to one side, then the other.

"Okay," the woman said, glancing at the pinscreen he was using briefly, "Tell us about Jasper Dunlop."

He paused his hand and furrowed his eyebrows, "Like… My life story, or like a resume?"

"It's up to you!" She cheered.

He hadn't even thought about what he would say. He thought interview and that they would ask questions and he would answer… Which, ge supposed that this _was _a form of questioning, but dang it, it was so vague. When he was younger, he used to spout out what he considered interesting facts about himself - his weird big toe, his eleventh toe, his affinity for buckets, his sweat gland condition… But, as he got older and more aware of himself, none of those things were necessarily interesting. They just were. Though… they hadn't told him to tell them something interesting about Jasper, just "tell us about Jasper." They were staring as he processed all of this.

'_If I were being impulsive, like I usually am, I'd have said that I have attachment issues and abandonment issues. I date women that remind me of my mother and men that remind me of my father, and yet I can't stand to be in the room with either of them and whenever I am, both of them remind me of the various ways that I am a disappointment to them. I should tell them to shove it. But, I also have approval issues.'_

"I'm not gifted at thinking on the spot. I've been known to say some pretty hilariously stupid things for having the bad habit of speaking before thinking…" Instead of saying it apologetically, he went ahead and just stated it like things that he was listing off "about Jasper, and that helped him to have a better flow with his little facts. "My go to karaoke song is 5 Fingaz to the Face by Dr. Rhapsody, I know the word "bucket" in 46 different languages. I eat fries. I have no idea what you want from this vague question. Also nachos. I eat those, too."

The woman smiled at him, one of the guys chuckled. The third went on to ask, "How would you describe your connection to Henry Hart?"

Jasper blinked his eyes and shook his head, "I don't think I would describe our existence on this plane as a connection, these days. We were once best friends. We aren't now. We're not enemies, and there's no bad blood, but there was enough deconstruction of the friendship parameters that our status has been altered."

"But, you're his ex right? One of his exes?" The man wondered.

"That is one small fragment of the long past that we've built and torn down," Jasper said, with a slight smile. '_Henry's hit that,' _he thought to himself. '_There's always a possibility when you meet someone through Henry that if Henry hasn't hit it, he's either dated, dabbled, or dallied with them. This dude just screams butthurt fuckbuddy.' _"I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that Henry gets around." The embarrassment on the man's face confirmed Jasper's suspicions. He went on, "One ex to Henry from years ago is like someone that a normal person might have run into at a party one night. Fleeting and inconsequential." Jasper smiled wider at the guy. Maybe downplaying that relationship would make the dude feel better about whatever torch he was carrying for him.

The woman said, "Well, Henry had a much different POV of your relationship."

"That makes sense. He's a much different person than me. It'd be ridiculous for him to have the same POV."

"He said that the two of you were best friends who fell deeply in love and that he hurt you and pushed you away," she reported, looking at her notes. They were trying to gauge Jasper's reaction to that. '_That was one way of putting it. Another way of putting it was that Jasper was in love with him for years and presumed it would never happen, then it did and he thought it would last forever, because he'd wanted it so badly and because he'd done everything that he possibly could have to make Henry happy. Nothing makes Henry happy. Nobody. And when it ended, there were at least a few accounts that would tell you that Jasper "tried to kill himself." That wasn't actually true. Jasper tried to silence his thoughts. He tried to numb his pain. He didn't care if he died, but he wasn't trying to do it, no… Tell that to his mother. She was the one who found him. "Just some liquor and pills. That shouldn't have been so toxic! I once got bit by a death snake!" he'd told her. Then, she thought that he was losing his mind and needed to be committed. Fortunately, after 72 hours, they decided that he really didn't need to be._

"Does that sound right?" The woman asked.

"That sounds like his POV," Jasper answered, hoping that what he was just thinking about wasn't covered in Henry's testimonial. "But, it's honestly behind the both of us now. I'm with someone. He's living his life. I don't want him. He doesn't want me." The scorned one scoffed a little and the woman made a face like she knew a secret, but was happy to keep it, so long as you knew she had it. "So, I know that grumpy cat here must've had his moment with Henry, what about you two?"

"We're not being interviewed," The woman said, _meaning she did. _The other guy made a face to indicate that he clearly hadn't and the idea was ridiculous to him.

Jasper nodded, "You're right. It's me. Got more questions for me?"

"What is your current relationship like?" Once again, he had to lose himself in his thoughts, so that he didn't admit that it was absolutely terrifying. That he and Charlotte had never been so close before and now that they were, he was afraid to ever lose her, or to find out that she wasn't as in love as he was. That had happened to him before. It was humiliating and shocking to his system.

Jasper was in love with Henry. He wasn't sure when he realized it. He didn't know if he had known for a while and avoided it, or if he had accepted it and was fine with it not going anywhere, because it was Henry and Henry just wasn't a relationship sort of person. Sophomore year of high school, Charlotte had read a study about sex in college, and she became stressed out about the risks. "Are you two having sex?" She asked, flat out.

Jasper blushed and looked at Henry. They had kissed before, experimentally. They had even spoken about how they'd date each other, several times, and they had made out a few times during sleepovers. Henry didn't even bat an eye at the question. He chuckled and asked, "What, with each other? No."

She scrunched her face up in confusion and shook her head, because why would she be asking if they were having sex _with each other? _"But, are the three of us still virgins, or not?" She rephrased her concerns.

"I am," Jasper said.

Henry clasped his hands together and asked, "Are you asking specifically about penetration?"

She placed her hands on his cheeks and got him to look at her, "Henry. Have you had sex?"

"Not sexual intercourse," he said through puckered lips, pressed out by her hard cheek squeezing.

"Okay! So, we are all virgins. Here is what I propose. If by some chance we still are by the time we graduate, our first times should be in this circle."

"This is a triangle," Henry joked, red in the face just thinking about _that, _with either of them…

"You've both got two years to get it done or be mentally prepared to possibly be the person who has to take one for the team and tap this."

"Take one for the team?" Jasper repeated. At the same time, Henry said, "That sounds like a reward."

She didn't reply to either of their comments, but added on to what she was saying, "And if either of you already have a girlfriend or something at that time, then by default, it's gotta be the other one. I loathe cheating."

"What if one of us has a boyfriend?" Jasper wondered.

"You tryin' to tell us something, Bro?" Henry asked and tilted his head, curiously. Jasper furrowed his eyebrows and just stared at him. Why was he acting brand new? He knew that Jasper was into boys. He had been one of the boys that he'd shown interest in.

But, Char simply said, "That would be cheating, wouldn't it?" She rolled her eyes shook her head and walked away saying, "It's probably gonna be him. Dear God, let me be mentally prepared for that…"

Jasper yelled, "I can hear you lamenting over having sex with me!" She looked at him, shocked as others in the hallway turned and gasped. Jasper hid his face in his locker. Henry laughed and caught up with Charlotte. Jasper sighed. It was probably gonna be Henry. Charlotte didn't even like Jasper like that, not that he thought at the time that she liked Henry, but he could tell that she simply wasn't remotely interested in _him, _at least. It was a shame, because Jasper always thought that Charlotte was super pretty and while her rough demeanor and snappy attitude should have probably turned him off of her, he liked her a little bit more for it. She reminded him of his mom. But! Then, he thought about how messed up that was and well… Wait. Then, he thought about how messed up it was that Henry just acted like he didn't know that he liked boys, and well… Was he doing that to save face in front of Charlotte, or to force Jasper out of the closet? Why would he want to do either of those things? If Jasper sat there thinking all day, he wouldn't get anything done. It was better for him to just leave his locker and head to class.

By the end of senior year, there were a few changes. He and Henry had become the closest of friends, with Charlotte and Henry's friendship being less engaging than before, but Henry was frequently all up in Charlotte's space, meanwhile, Jasper had a crush on him. Jasper wasn't a fool. He knew that Henry didn't like him like that, even though he sometimes showed him affection, Henry was just really bad at being a boyfriend and never seemed to want to be involved with anybody after a few days of passion and excitement. That was simply the nature of the beast and despite that, Jasper had feelings growing.

So, whenever Schwoz kept asking Henry and Charlotte about whether or not they were dating, when the guys laughed about Char's weird behavior whenever Henry was "asking her to marry him," and just the general weirdness of that time when it seemed like his two best friends were getting to a level that he could not ascend with them to, he just held his peace and watched, pretending that he was imagining it.

They were going to move into an apartment after graduation. None of them had friends, significant others, or plans to go too far from Swellview, so they did the thing that friends do. They started looking for an apartment whenever they started looking for prom and graduation stuff. Charlotte was busy with college prep. Henry was busy with Kid Danger. So, Jasper wound up being the one to look into stuff for them. It was difficult.

Swellview had a pretty good economy, because people who probably shouldn't have been able to afford their homes based upon the work that they went into or the amount of time that they worked… with their budget, Jasper wasn't sure how they were supposed to make this work. So, he went to Charlotte to show her his findings and ask her what she thought. She looked things over and said, "We could probably find a house for cheaper than this, Jasper," and shook her head, "I'll find an apartment. Don't worry about it." He felt stupid, like he sometimes did whenever she treated him like he messed something up that she had to fix. He wasn't asking her to fix it. He was telling her that this was the best that was out there.

"I worked really hard to find that. I don't think that there's anything else that you might find other than…" and she pointed to her computer screen.

Charlotte got up off the seat and walked off, and barked, "Call them."

Jasper looked at the screen and looked at his list. This wasn't on his list, so maybe he missed it. He went back through where he was searching, and sure enough, this listing had been on his list and he'd just missed it. That was his mistake. He had problems focusing sometimes and missed out on information, but jeesh… Charlotte could be nicer about it. It had only taken her a few moments to find it. Why had she given the assignment to him, anyway? He fumed and dialed the number to the apartment listing. He heard Henry's voice, so his natural response was to look for him and to say hi. He was on the phone with the apartment people when he di find Henry and Charlotte huddled up and she was saying, "I just can't see how it's still a good idea at this point. He doesn't listen well. He doesn't pay attention. He doesn't think things through. He is an adult now, Henry. You won't be home most of the time, which means, I'll have to pick up his slack. If you want to live with him so bad, you two can get a place and I'll get my own."

"It's supposed to be the big 3," Henry said.

"Well, I'm not his mother, Dude. I'm already on board for a double degree program. I can't come home to remind Jasper that he needs to put on his big boy undies everyday." She walked off and Henry called out to her, but she kept going.

Jasper hung up his phone, took a sad swallow and put on his cheerful voice, "Hey, Henry!" He said.

Henry was startled, but turned to face him with a smile and said, "Heyyy, Jasp! What's up? Char told me that you two found a promising location. Did you get the chance to call them?" Jasper stared at him. Was he really not going to tell him all of the stuff that Charlotte had just said about him? And with a straight face, no less? There was no sign whatsoever from Henry that Charlotte had just been complaining about living with Jasper and basically saying that she didn't want to.

Jasper wondered, "We are all three still doing it, aren't we?"

Henry faltered for a moment, "What? Yeah, Bud! Of course we are. Char's in a bad mood though, so don't ask her about it right now. I'll talk to her later, but we're definitely doing the 3 of us in an apartment thing." Henry patted him on the shoulder, smiled and headed into the Man Cave. Henry smiled to his face, looked him in the eye and lied to him without so much as a blink. If he had thought better about things, like Charlotte was complaining about, he would have known that Henry was lying. If he would have been paying attention, like Charlotte was complaining about, there would have been no other explanation for what he overheard and what Henry said to him right after. He would have known that the three of them weren't going to make it in an apartment together. But, he cheered, "Okay, good!" Because, he wanted to believe that his best friend had this handled and even though his other best friend seemed annoyed by him, that she was just in a bad mood and didn't mean anything by it.

The only available spot for what they would be able to afford was a 2 bedroom place, 2 bathroom space. Charlotte said, "Oh, boo! Looks like I won't be able to room up with you two." She said it in an exaggerated sadness, so that they both knew that she wasn't actually upset about that, at all.

Henry shook his head and said, "Nonsense. They always have a living room in those places. One of us can just take the living room. I'm fine with that. I'll probably be working as Kid Danger a lot of the time, anyway."

"Working as Kid Danger, then coming in bone tired and nasty and musty and crashing in the living room - pur shared community space?"

"Even if I had a bedroom, I'd crash in the living room, because that's where the TV will be."

"And whenever somebody wants to watch TV, we'll what, just turn it down low, because you'll be sleeping off getting your butt beat on the couch that everyone is supposed to share?"

"He could crash in my room!" Jasper offered. Henry and Charlotte both looked at him and he felt like it must've been a weird suggestion… but it couldn't have been more weird than Kid Danger crashing on the couch because he didn't have a room of his own where he paid rent!

"We'll keep looking," Henry said. Charlotte shook her head and folded her arms, muttering something like _That means I'LL have to look, like I don't have better things to do… _"I'LL keep looking!" Henry said and rubbed her thigh. She fought a smile and pulled her leg away from him. Jasper noticed that, but it didn't really occur to him that was an intimate gesture. They were in each other's space a lot. Henry was a touchy feely person. Charlotte's little smirk was off, but maybe she was just relieved that Henry was going to do the work and search…

So, they got to the end of the year. They went to a graduation party that was crashed by a villain and Captain Man and Kid Danger were called in to clear things up. Charlotte and Jasper served as the backup and whenever the coast was clear, the three met back up and headed towards their hotel room. They had plans and Charlotte decided that they should just spend the weekend somewhere besides home, since they hadn't made a final decision on their apartment status yet. The hotel room was nice, fancy, and clean. Basically the only type of hotel that they would expect Charlotte to sleep in.

She went to wash up in her suite, and told them to go wash up in theirs, then come over. She said it, like she was talking to Jasper, but he didn't notice that it was aimed at him. Henry raised his eyebrows, smiled and asked Jasper, "You know what she's doing right?"

"Washing up for the night?"

"Yeah, but… remember your virginity pact?" Jasper took a step back. He had NOT remembered it. Henry smiled, "Why do you look so bothered? You're gonna have your first time with CHARLOTTE! That's awesome."

"I wasn't prepared for that!" Jasper said. "I can't!"

"Of course you can. I can give you pointers..."

Charlotte got the room ready, washed up, got herself ready, made sure that she had the necessary supplies, and dressed up in a nice little chemise, with her hair up. She would be able to say that her first time was with one of her best friends. That she loved him. That she was responsible. Everything was beautiful. She sighed and began to nervously bounce around. He was taking too long. What were they even doing over there? She grabbed the night robe and threw it on, slid into her slippers and went to their suite to knock. She planned on doing it more gently, but wound up knocking hard.

Henry opened the door, glistening from the shower, with a smile. "Hey," he said.

"Hey… Is Jasper gonna come over, or… did you have some other plans… together?" She asked, peeking in to see Jasper sprawled out on the bed, laying on his back, with nothing but a towel covering him. Had they showered together? She knew that there was something going on there, but hell… was she the only virgin left in this trio tonight?

Henry stepped out into the hallway and smiled softly, "He's scared."

"Of what?"

"Failing. You know how you can be when he doesn't do something right. He doesn't want his first time to get him fussed at and give him a complex."

"I fuss at him a lot less than he deserves!" She snapped, loudly. Henry shushed her. "Don't you SHHHHHH me!" She said and took a swing at him. He caught her little fist, laughed and pulled her to him. Then, he kissed her on the lips. It caught her off guard. They had been doing a dance for a while, but Henry was no virgin and that wasn't part of the pact. Then again, Jasper had never agreed to the pact, so… she kissed Henry back and he gently hoisted her up and carried her back to her suite.

Henry sat her on the bed and said, "I can go get Jasper, and I can help him out, if that's what you want?"

"That sounds awkward," She said, thinking about her mother telling her about choosing one. Anything else was cheating, or that the very least unwise and a little dirty. She didn't want those associations with her first time, and Jasper had already rejected her. She couldn't blame him. She _was _a little short with him at times, but she figured that he was used to her being hard, by now. She certainly didn't think it would make him turn her down for something so important that she thought they were going to be able to do together, as friends, and to be honest, she was kind of hurt that he thought she might fuss at him when SHE didn't know what she was doing either! "I just can't believe that Jasper turned me down," she sniffled.

"He didn't _turn you down. _He's scared. I'm sure we can talk him into it."

"You mean coerce him? No thanks. I'm not a rapist, you weirdo."

"Well, I know I don't fit the criteria of your image of your first time, but… I am both willing and available," Henry said. She looked around the room at the set up. She had these cute little buckets of rose petals that she'd spread everywhere, some with candles lit in them, and one with a bottle of wine that she had gotten as a graduation gift. She shrugged her shoulders, bashfully. She was definitely less confident about this with Henry than she would have been with Jasper.

In her mind, as long as he was clean, Jasper would have probably been more gentle, easier on her, nicer, and it would have been the perfect levels of, 'What the fuck are we doing?' for them to both laugh at themselves and still enjoy each other. With Henry… He was… well, he was a player. He was probably skilled. He may or may not have had an unsafe encounter. It wasn't what she wanted her first time to be! But… she had actually chosen him, before, if it was gonna come to this, not realizing that the choice had to go both ways, when she'd decided. She supposed, rationally, this was better than some pothead when she got to the university and was so busy and tired that she tried it out for kicks. "Okay," she said. "Just… be easy on me, okay?"

"Charlotte, I'm going to treat you like a queen, okay?"

.

Jasper got up after Henry had been gone a while. He guessed he needed some alone time to think, without Henry repeatedly telling him how stupid it was that he wasn't rushing over to Char's room and "blowing her back out." But, Henry didn't understand stuff like this. Henry didn't really let people get close to him. He didn't know how terrifying the idea of crossing a line with someone you value and making it to where you could lose them in the capacity that you have them… Henry had as few real connections as Jasper did, but Henry also had another life. He had a persona. He had someone that he could become whenever nobody was there for him and nobody loved him and it was just a bubble away. If he got lonely, he could just become Kid Danger and have a flock of fans. Jasper had to sit with his. So, he didn't want to lose one of the two people who gave him the comfort of company and he didn't want to let her down, either.

Jasper put his hand up to knock on her door, but he heard her making sounds and paused. He put his ear against the door to see if he was just tripping, or if something was happening over there… But, it was clear. Even though he had never heard her voice in this way before, he knew that it was her, and he knew that other moan too. That was definitely Henry. Jasper backed away from the door and covered his mouth with both hands, telling himself not to cry. It was okay. This was bound to happen, and they both still loved him and they both would still be his friend…

Unfortunately, things changed between them. Henry in particular was trying to include Jasper, but it was always very clear that he preferred his time alone with Charlotte and she was still sore that Jasper "sent Henry to reject her." No matter how many times both of them told her that wasn't exactly what happened.

After a couple of weeks, Jasper announced, "I'm not gonna move into the apartment." Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and Henry looked relieved, but he was pretending it was sad and that he wanted Jasper to do this with the 3 of them so badly. He didn't fight him on it like he'd fought Char whenever she didn't want in, and Jasper just made up some excuse and bowed out. Henry and Charlotte moved in together, and they got a one bedroom place, on the third floor. Jasper didn't come to visit much, but whenever he did, they were super domestic and one of the times that he did, he and Henry were playing videogames when Charlotte got home.

"Gonna be in here doing that all night?" She asked.

"No. I'm definitely gonna come to bed, probably," Henry said.

Charlotte nodded and said, "Well, don't wake me up for anything. I have a test in the morning." Henry paused the game, got up and went to help her out of her jacket and give her a kiss on the lips, "I promise, I won't wake you, Babe." Jasper choked on his popsicle.

Now… IF he had been paying attention, if he had thought about it, the fact that he knew that they had slept together that night in the hotel room, the fact that they had moved into a one bedroom apartment, and the fact that she had just asked him about coming to bed should have been indicators that they were involved. But, for whatever reason, it didn't occur to him until that kiss and the way that Henry said, "Babe."

"If you get popsicle on my carpet, I'm going to murder you," Charlotte said. Jasper got up quickly to rush into the kitchen. "Check on him, before he chokes to death," she told Henry, shaking her head at their poor, overgrown child of a friend. Henry was on it and she went to bed…

"Jasper, are you okay?" Jasper heard. It was a woman's voice. He shook himself out of the memory and laughed at himself. He was home, and the interview crew was on the computer screen, during a video call.

"Sorry, I sometimes get so involved in making sure that I actually pay attention and that I'm sure to think about something that I overthink and get lost in my thoughts. Uhh, my current relationship is… surprisingly wonderful. Charlotte and I have a lot of history, some of it is pretty painful, but where we both are now is perfect. We probably should have done this a long time ago, but then again, we would have been completely different people. We were completely different people…" He didn't realize how much it still stung to think about the way that he for whatever reason was so in love with Henry, but Henry didn't care about him like that and slid in and made a life with a girl that he probably could have had one with, if he had just been a little bit more attentive, a little bit more thoughtful. He brushed that away and smiled, well… he had her now.

The crew smiled. "Is there something that you care about and would like it to be what an audience gains from watching you?" The woman asked.

This interview had made him think about his heartbreak and his unwillingness to feel it again, but they were probably looking more along the lines of a catchphrase or tagline. He thought for a moment and said, "I'm sensitive, and I've been hurt before, but I'm never going to allow myself to be hurt the way that I've been hurt before, again."


	5. And the Drama Begins

_Doing confession in bold to see how this goes. I may not set chapters up in "reality TV format" but I had a couple of things that I wanted to do in that style just to see. I be trying out stuff sometimes. Forgive me for being a whole trash can._

**And, the Drama Begins**

Jasper wanted to have one more Girls Day with the Hartbroken Club before filming started, but the production team felt like that was actually a perfect place to begin recording him. Of course, he couldn't see it in progress. The thought of doing things for six months then having to wait another six months before even seeing it and probably being a completely different person in another year… that was a little terrifying.

But, the team had made a filming schedule and decided to start out with Jasper for the beginning of the show for a few reasons: 1. He was the longest friendship that Henry Hart has ever had. 2. He was the most likable person that they currently had on the cast. And 3. They weren't convinced that he and Henry were over each other and felt like establishing that on camera, early on would be a wonderful bang to begin with.

Henry hadn't been in a serious relationship since he and Jasper broke up a few years prior and there must've been a reason that it also took Jasper a long time to move on and when he did, it was with Henry's ex. They were pretty much convinced that either the relationship was a ruse to get to Henry, or one or both of them were lying to themselves about how one another felt.

Also, unknown to Jasper, they had reasons that they wanted to see Charlotte face to face with Bianca and Chloe. If the cast members weren't telling each other certain things, that was fine for the production team. They had a feeling that they knew how to start with a hefty dosage of mess from something that Charlotte had admitted in her interview when asked how she felt about being on screen with Henry's other exes. They had a feeling that Jasper didn't know this little piece of information. It would bring in good ratings at the start of the program...

.

Jasper's confession/testimony room was in his bedroom, where he interviewed, but with a much better camera set up. They gave Jasper a list of things that they wanted him to share with the confession camera: _Why do you go to these outings with Chloe and Bianca? Is all of this because of your connection to Henry? How does Charlotte feel about it?_

He sighed and set the paper down. "Those don't have to be recorded right now," Grumpy Cat said. "But, I'd say maybe do a short introduction for your first voiceover."

"Can it not be the stuff from the interview? Because I can guarantee you that whatever I said then is all that I'll come up with if I sit in that chair."

"Sure. I don't care." He rolled his eyes and walked off.

Jasper waited until he was gone to start his confession. **"My name is Jasper Dunlop. I'm 28, he/him/his pronouns, cis, but not het. Ummm… Bisexual, not entirely sure of what it means to be pan, so I don't absorb that title. I have a beautiful girlfriend of about 7 months now. We live together and decided to take this weird journey with our ex-best friend and mutual ex boyfriend.."** _That probably sounds like we dated him at the same time, which technically… I mean, depending on how you look at it… _Henry was definitely still in love with Charlotte when he and Jasper… Jasper looked at the paper then at the camera again.

**"I go to these outings with Chloe and Bianca, who also dated Henry because when we broke up, it was my chance to vent, but now I just love having spa days. That's good stuff. This time, we're bringing Charlotte along. She wants to go for spa stuff. She couldn't really care about the whole Henry angle. She got over him better than any of us did, I think, especially considering that theirs was a much more serious relationship… Honestly, Char just deserves a good relaxing day. She hasn't had a great year."**

.

Charlotte and Jasper came to the spa and Chloe and Bianca were waiting inside. "Hi!" Both girls cheered. Charlotte smiled, but didn't rush to hug them like Jasper had. They came to hug her, though. She smiled a little. "My God, you look amazing! What do you do for your skin? Your hair is divine! Omg, this dress is so cute! You smell great…" Her smile tensed up with all the overdoing going on here.

But, she had given a confession that would surely be used when this was aired…

**"I don't know if Bianca and Chloe know that I know that they're two of the women who Henry was paying attention to behind my back. I don't know if they know that I know that pix were sent and that a threesome was discussed. But I know that I know, and both those girls better watch how they handle me."**

In the spa, Charlotte said, "Okay! I'm not a collectible doll and neither of you are at a petting zoo." She bumped past them and asked for a price list, which she took to studying as Jasper confusedly resumed speaking to the girls about their usual plan.

She wondered, to the woman at the counter, "Just wondering about this Henry Hartbreak Plan… I think I want it, but is there a way to take off certain services for a discounted price? For instance… I don't do tanning beds…"

"Are you Charlotte?" The woman asked. Now, the whole group was paying attention. Charlotte raised an eyebrow, reluctant to answer, "I've got whatever your services are covered."

"What? Why?" Charlotte asked suspiciously. She had been broke for a few years and nobody ever gave her anything for free in her life.

"We have card information and instructions to let you whatever you need, if you are."

"What card information?"

"Dr. Henry Hart." Charlotte almost refused, but you know what? Eff it. He owed her at least one spa day, and the looks on both Bianca and Chloe's faces were worth it as the girl behind the counter read, "Charlotte Page. Special instructions. Whatever she orders, charge it to this card." The woman looked worried, like she'd said something wrong.

"Okay then, but can I still skip the tanning bed? I like to tan like nature intended, basking in the sun…"

Jasper spoke to the confession camera about this, **"It was troubling to me that Henry was paying for Charlotte's way, but a little more troubling that she accepted. Because, I'd offered her and she declined. But he offered and..."** he shrugged his shoulders, but his eyes were stressed.

.

Charlotte had a wonderful time, but avoided the girls and by association, Jasper most of the time. It wasn't really his fault, but she just preferred to focus on her experience there. **"Honestly, I didn't go there to bond with Chloe or Bianca and I didn't go there to confront them about old stuff. I went for a spa day. They had their little girl's day. Charlotte had her spa day, AND it was free." **On the way home, she reclined the seat and said, "I'm probably gonna sleep."

"Are you tired from all the energy it must've taken you to ignore everybody all day?" He said, jokingly.

"Nope. It took none. It was as natural as breathing. That's an awesome spa! My skin feels glorious." She said. "I loved those lavender lemonade spritzers."

"Too rich for my blood," he muttered.

"Should've told me. I'd have gotten you some on Henry's dime." Jasper took a deep breath. "You okay, Jasper?" She poked him a little in the side, playfully, trying to get him to look at her.

"I don't feel comfortable with what happened today."

"Why? I got a free spa day and you got your day with your little friends. Everybody won."

"For one, they were trying to be nice and you were kind of rude to them, then you refused to interact with any of us. Why did you come when we did and not some other time if you didn't want to be there with us?"

"Next time I won't. Sorry for how it affected you," she said and rubbed his shoulder.

He sighed. He wanted to say it was no big deal and move on, but that was the kind of stuff that got his heart in trouble with Henry. "Now, I feel like you're dismissing it."

"I am, because you're wrong, but if it's how you feel, who are me to judge?" She laughed to herself about her silly reference. He didn't get it. He looked stressed and she didn't want that at all. She honestly didn't think it would matter to him that she stayed to herself, because they were both pretty independent in this relationship. He seemed like he was upset, so she added, "I wasn't trying to ignore you. I thought that was better than me being bitchy towards those girls. I won't mess up your next date with them, as long as you aren't talking _playfully _or otherwise about having a threesome with them."

"Why would I be?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Henry did." Jasper squinted and looked at her sideways.

"What?"

"This story never got back to you?" He shook his head. "Okay. Wow. Well, whenever Henry and I had our last little blow up, one of the contention sources was his group chat with Bianca and Chloe and very inappropriate things being said and done there, one of which quote unquote just joking about having a threesome with them."

"I… did not know that. Henry didn't really ever want to say much about what happened between you and him. Just that it was his fault and that you left him."

"And in the past year or so you've been hanging with them they never mentioned it?"

"They mentioned that something happened after you two broke up, but nothing about causing it."

"Wait, something happened, like what? Like the threesome?"

"I mean… would it matter at this point? Are you still hurt?"

**"To be honest, I didn't really deal with my heartbreaking. I just moved along, focused on school until I was ready to see other people socially, and I guess in the anger and blocking and stuff… maybe I _am_ still hurt…"**

"I don't know. But whether or not I am, I didn't like how they approached me either, so I still wouldn't have been interested, even if I didn't have those being my last memories of them."

"Why didn't you tell me this before? Like.. why come to this and then tell me afterwards?"

"I thought it would be petty to bring it up to you, at all. But, just now, you looked upset and I hate seeing you upset. I wanted to explain myself. I didn't think I'd be as dismissive of them when I got there as I was. I'm sorry."

He pulled over and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry. That's really messed up that you went through that. That would never happen with me."

.

**"I'm Charlotte. Part science whiz, part art hoe, part witchy bitch, sarcastic, realistic, and just passionate about the things that I'm into. I came here for no other reason than for people to be able to see sides of me that I don't necessarily talk about. I know that this is about Henry, but that's not why I'm here." **Charlotte was doing yoga in the living room, then made some juice and went outside to watch the sunrise.

Whenever Jasper saw her do it for the first time, he waited for her to come back in and asked, "Is that a you and Henry thing?"

"Nothing is a me and Henry thing," she said, laughing. Jasper had stepped out onto the balcony with Henry before and Henry asked him not to interrupt that time. It was his special alone time with the sun. Jasper thought it was weird, but gave him the space. So, seeing Charlotte do the very same thing had been deja vu. But, instead of being hard on him, she'd asked, "You ever wanna join me? I know you're not usually up so early…"

"I'd love to!" He said, then never woke up for it. Sometimes, if he left the bar super late, he'd still be awake when she got up. To be perfectly honest, watching her do yoga was more interesting to him than watching the sunrise, but there was something in how she watched it, something in how Henry had watched it that made Jasper feel like he understood them both better now. He didn't. He couldn't put his finger on it. But, he was just… kinda really fond of them in some of the same ways.

"You know, Henry does this every morning, too. That was why I'd asked if it was a you and him thing."

"It's a me thing that rubbed off on him."

"There was a lot, I think. I didn't realize that was your influence, but living with you after living with him…"

She smiled a little, "Well, he and I have to have both changed enough to where I don't remind you too much of him?"

"Yeah, there's a lot of very clear differences. Like, the bathroom! He keeps all his bathroom stuff in a bag and puts it out when he's in there and puts it away when he leaves."

"Yeah, because if he has to get out and go, he needs those things to go with him. He and Ray went on a… business trip suddenly and we're there for over a week. He came back and kept insisting his skin was in shambles." She laughed. "He was so ashy! I didn't even know that could happen to him, but he's got a kinda dark white complexion, so I guess." Jasper laughed too, recalling that. THAT was why he did that?

"Of course, you don't even care. You just spread your things all over my bathroom before you ever even moved in! I'd go in to find my toothpaste and there's women's stuff, beauty stuff, all those oils and stuff.."

"You're welcome. Don't think I don't notice you using my stuff."

"It's high quality stuff!"

"I have something for you!" She rushed to get a pretty bottle, that looked sort of like a genie bottle and handed it to him. "I blended this juice especially for you."

He tried some and shrugged. "Pretty good."

"It will help with some things…" she smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't leave me in suspense. What things?"

**"Jasper has bruh… I don't know how else to say it… very off-putting semen. It's super bitter - WAY more tart than it should be. I know that his diet is part of the problem, but I can't really, you know… change his diet for him. This is one of the things that I do, though. Juices, herbs, soaks, whatever… we can get him tasting right. I'm not gonna keep trying to figure out what to do with that swamp gunk!"**

Charlotte answered, "Your output. This will help with it."

"I have no idea what that means."

"I'll LOVE it, okay?"

"Good enough for me." She gave him a peck on the lips, then went to go get cleaned up for the rest of her day. ***Shows off the bottle "Look at how gorgeous this thing is. I don't even know what it's made out of, but it's beautiful and the juice tastes magical."**

.

Jasper showed up while Henry was watering plants. He'd left the door open. "Heyyy!" Henry cheered. "Jasper's here, ladies," he said to a group of flowers.

"Yo. Oh! Is it still watering time?" He backed away, getting ready to leave the place, in peace.

"Yeah, it's all good." Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Things have changed, Jasp. I'm not as mean as before… or as abusive." His eyes fell and he shook his head. He was honestly horrible to Jasper.

"I wouldn't call it abusive. You just were snappy about your boundaries."

"Yeah, but when you have so many boundaries…"

"Speaking of, sometimes I watch the sunrise with Char. She told me that you got that from her."

Henry smiled sadly, "Keep living. She'll put things on you too."

"Yeah! She makes me special juice and puts it in this beautiful bottle for me!" He held out the bottle to Henry.

"What's in it?"

Jasper took a swig, "Like.. bananas, something tropical, citrusy.." he took another, "Different flavors. My palate is getting a lot."

"May I?" Jasper reluctantly handed it over and Henry beautifully took a sip. How was he so damn hot, just drinking from a bottle? He swished it in his mouth, swallowed, smacked his lips and said, "I've got papaya, cinnamon, peppermint… celery…" He snapped his fingers, "This is for your semen." He handed the bottle back. "To help it taste better for her."

"What?" Jasper hugged the bottle close to himself, scandalized.

"I mean, sure those things have other properties, so it could be anything, but my vote is on semen, because yours was always super strong tasting and she doesn't like flavors like that. Knowing her, she'd give you something to help without straight up saying, this is for this problem that I've noticed… Because, she feels like we ignore her when she does that."

"My output!" Jasper said, embarrassed.

Henry laughed, then apologized. "I remember her telling me, I got you something! Then showing me my very first konjac sponge. Apparently, I needed to exfoliate, especially my lips, which got really dry and licking them only wet them, not moisturized them." Henry laughed. "I do a routine flush to keep that down below good to go, though, especially if I'm expecting to engage. You let her down there with...just whatever? DId you not notice her wince or anything?"

"I don't wanna talk sex with Charlotte with you, Henry. You understand."

"Sure. Well, you ready to run?"

"No! But I agreed to it, so…"**"Charlotte is super healthy. Henry is super healthy. Henry is gonna be around because we're doing this show, so… I want to look better than I've been looking. I look great! Don't think I'm self conscious. I just know that I could stand to try to be in better shape, especially with the weirdness of Charlotte and Henry and me. Henry said that I could come with him on his morning runs. I hate running, but I've gotta start somewhere, I guess." **The two of them were lightly jogging. Jasper fell behind a few times and told Henry not to worry, but he'd slow down every time.

**"Jasper running is kinda comical, kinda adorable. He seems like he might die and that's sad, but his facial expressions and the stuff he yells out just make it hard not to smile."**

"Running is what they get you to do when you wake up in Hell!" Jasper toppled over. Jasper poured a jug of water down his shirt. Jasper nearly collapsed. "Why would people choose to do this any time after like, age 6?" Jasper rested his hands on his knees, then fell forward, then lied down in the grass. "You should go on without me. I've been out here too long." Henry jogged next to him as he caught his breath. Henry checked his watch. "Okay, Buddy. It's been like 8 minutes…"

"PERIOD?" **"Jasper is not a runner."**

.

Henry made a mental note to simply work out later. After 20 minutes, Jasper was ready to die. "Come on. I'll get you something to eat and we can sit down for a while." Henry placed Jasper on his shoulder and said, "Maybe a gym. A treadmill? You could better control the volume and speed. We'll look into that."

**"Henry and I used to work out all the time. I started going to the gym with him when he and Charlotte broke up. He would go more frequently, trying to blow off stress I think and I went along because he was mentally in a bad spot and I didn't want him to be alone. I got a membership back then and we went and talked and worked out and I was in my best shape at that time. I was hot. Ouch!"**

Charlotte wasn't home whenever Jasper got back, but he texted her about spending the afternoon with Henry. Once they were out and about again, they just flowed well. And, they'd spent time together before he and Charlotte, so they would likely do so again. He looked at the countertop in the kitchen and Charlotte had left him this cute jumbo organza bag with a drawstring and a note, "Put together a blend of oatmeal, epsom salts, fragrances, flowers, herbs and essential oils for the soreness that you'll surely have when you get home. Love you!" Jasper held his heart over his chest, "**She's honestly so thoughtful. Like… She talks to you mean, but literally nobody in my life has ever anticipated that I might be sore and made me a bath soak for it." **He was blushing, uncontrollably.

.

Henry pulled out all the 'Steal Yo Girl' stops for his visit to the lounge that Jasper and Charlotte were working at. Neither of them were expecting him, but he knew where they worked and decided that he would go to socialize and smize at them. He had on a button down shirt, with the buttons open at the top, a floral jacket, silk to be exact, his eyebrows, hairdo, skin and teeth groomed to perfection. Jasper had spent a lot of time with him earlier. They had brunch and found a gym to join together and Henry was able to finish up his run on the treadmill, while Jasper preferred a comfortable walk on the one next to it. They had a good time. Henry felt good about them, but Charlotte was still out of his reach.

He came in and saw a little flier that said that Charlotte was singing tonight. He didn't even know that she sung here. He thought she said she was a waitress. He headed for the bar to order a drink and this music started and a sweet singing voice that made him turn around and stare. She was just in a silhouette, but he knew her form, even holding a guitar. "When we first collided -The timing wasn't right. I showed you the signs. You disappeared into the shadows. Now you're back again, Telling me you do. You do…" She came from the darkness into the dim light of the room, continuing. He was transfixed, but everyone was.

Charlotte wore a figure hugging shimmering gold dress that showcased her gorgeous legs, strap up shoes, and her hair pulled up, adorned with gold accents and some extensions that made her kinda look like that suitoress in Coming to America. She kicked her leg up when she got to the chorus, "I've been to the moon. Don't tempt me. I've been where you are. God help me…" Jasper and Charlotte seemed to both notice Henry at the same time, or maybe Jasper noticed him after she focused in on someone in the audience… "I've been to the moon and stars for you, and now it's your turn to go for me too…" Henry was drawing closer to the stage when he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and broke his trance. Jasper.

"Hey.. you didn't tell me that Char was singing tonight!"

"I didn't expect to see you here, so I'm not sure why I would've. She has good vocals and can play guitar, so sometimes she does this for extra cash when they can't book anybody." Jasper smiled and folded his arms, trying not to look Henry over and failing. "What are you doing here?"

"Wanted to have a few drinks." They headed for the bar and Jasper was ready to serve. "What's this song she's singing?"

"Ummm.. it's Corinne Bailey Rae, I think. She's doing some of that tonight and some Esperanza Spalding, Marsha Ambrosious… You know…"

"Charshit," they both said at the same time. Henry ordered his drink then stared at her some more before Jasper interrupted, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you still wanted her." Henry blinked out of it and turned in his seat towards Jasper with a soft smile. "I want her not to hate me. We never got a chance to get to that point. She crossed me off and didn't look back. I spent years trying to get over that."

"Over the fact that someone was strong enough to leave you?" Jasper teased

Henry studied his glass for a while, before admitting, "Over the fact that the one person I always thought would never, had."

"The _one _person…" Jasper reeled in his sympathy to say, "Well when you're planning threesomes with your exes while you're dating, executing aforementioned threesome when you break up, and then inviting all of them to your shit show, I'm not sure how you expect her to forgive you any time soon."

Henry rubbed the temples of his head, shot the rest of his drink, and gestured for another. Jasper rolled his eyes at the fact that he went silent when called on his BS. Earlier today, he thought he'd changed. When he set down Henry's drink, Henry said, "I want everything out of the way. All the dirt dealt with… everything drudged up and maybe we can put all the shit behind us."

"Says the shit starter," Jasper said. He leaned on the bar, kinda close to Henry's face, "If that's what you want, just say it. Stop playing games."

Henry smiled and said, "I feel like that's going to be used completely out of context when this airs." He booped his nose, laughed, and turned away from Jasper to watch Charlotte finish her set and nurse his drink. "**Charlotte said everything that she needed to say to me whenever she left me. She had some valid reasons. She was well within her right and it was the best thing for her to do for her. I always thought that whenever somebody messes up, you work on it, forgive, maybe even forget. My parents have been together for like 30 years and I know that there's been infidelity and other troubles, but they never leave each other and they've never even considered a divorce, and I guess that I thought that when you love someone, there's a lot of room to make mistakes. That… wasn't what I believed after that break up and I felt like I had an epiphany that I was never going to have any great love, because I had one and I messed up." **

Charlotte came off of the stage and looked Henry up and down then said, very firmly, cutting off whatever cheery compliments that he was about to give her, "Listen. If you're gonna go after my man, all up in my face, I should tell you that you're not the only one with some fight training."

Henry scoffed and Jasper handed her a drink, "He's not, Babe."

"Don't come up in here trying to look like a meal and getting all up on Jasper, smiling and booping his nose and shit!" She snapped at Henry.

"Wow. You misread all of that," Henry said.

"You misread!" She snapped. "Jasper is a nice person and he has a hard time telling people to shove off. I don't. He doesn't want you anymore, Hen, You messed that up."

"I know that," Henry said, shot the rest of his current drink and threw some money on the counter, "Sorry for the misunderstanding. We still on for the gym?"

"Uhh... " Jasper looked at Charlotte, tapping her foot angrily and clenching her glass in her fingers. "I don't know. I'll call you in the morning." He rubbed Charlotte's shoulder and said, "He wasn't flirting with me."

"I know. You were flirting with him," She said and drank her drink.

"No, I wasn't. I was confronting him about the way that he was looking at you!"

"You had to be nose to nose with him to do so?" She slammed her glass down and said, "Jasper… I'm not going to be any man's fool."

"I would never. I'm tired of you not trusting me."

"Should we take a break? You're certainly not tired of Henry. You were with him all day and now he's here tonight?"

"He just showed up!"

"And you decided to fawn all over him right in my goddamn face, Jasper!"  
"I noticed that he looked nice, but I wasn't… I don't want Henry, and hell no I don't want to take a break!"

Henry bit his lip and looked at the camera.** "I think that I started a fight between them.."** He left the bar, stifling a chuckle. It wasn't funny, but he couldn't help it. He actually had not meant to do that, at all. He didn't know how he was gonna fix it, but probably invite them both over for dinner to clarify what he was doing there.

.


	6. Daddy Issues

**Daddy Issues**

"**I called my mom to try to see if I could come over for a few nights and clear my mind. It didn't go exactly how I would have loved…"**

Charlotte was outside of the longue, crying in her pretty dress, with Jasper nearby, holding his head, trying to figure out what was happening to them right now. She didn't want him to hear the conversation, but he refused to leave her alone outside of the building. "Mom… Could I come spend a few nights at your place?"

"Honey, I thought that we agreed that as long as you're wasting your degrees, we can't keep coddling you."

"I'm not asking you to pay a bill or to let me move back in. I just need a few nights away from Jasper," she said, sniffling.

"I don't know…" Her mom said. "I tried to tell you that no good could come out of dating a boy whose friend you dated, and it's even trickier that both of you dated the same boy! I don't know what kind of swapping you kids are up to these days…"

Charlotte was about to ask her if she could come over or not, but she heard a male voice in the background and wondered, "Who is that, Mom?"

Her mother cleared her throat and asked her, "Who else would it be, Charlotte?"

"That's Dad?" Charlotte asked, breaking down a little bit more. "Let me get this straight… So, I ask you for a few days there and it's an automatic no, but the man that put you through everything that he put you through gets to come over there in the middle of booty call hours?"

"Charlotte!" She hissed. "He's your father, and my husband…"

"He's everybody's, Mom, but go off. Anyway, thanks for listening. I've gotta call a friend." Her mother sounded like she was going to say something else, but Charlotte hung up on her. "**We're talking about someone who slept around, ran around, traveled around, just whoring himself all over the place… Had my mother looking stupid for half my life, that I can remember. Out there with pregnancy scares at other people's houses. He gave her an STD whenever I was in 9th grade. An STD. Then, he just LEFT her ass when I turned 18, like it was on schedule or something! And that community dick can come home, but I can't?!" **

Charlotte let out a howl of a cry and Jasper rushed to check on her. She was still mad, but she let him hug her and just cried on him. "My dad is at my mom's house. She told me that I couldn't even stay for a few days. He shouldn't even be allowed to cross the threshold!"

"Maybe he's just there to fix something or they're sorting through their issues. Maybe he came to discuss something legal that they never finished off. Baby… It's okay. You don't need to go anywhere. Stay with me. I promise, I'll give you whatever space you need and not bother you, if that's what you want."  
"I don't want this energy in our home. I want to cool off, realign and just…" She started crying again and he held her tighter. "Seeing you with Henry just reminded me of all the times I saw my mother pretend not to notice some woman being all cozy with my dad and I just felt like that rejected girl in the hotel room that night… The one that you didn't want to be with…"

"That's not what happened, Char." He loosened the hug to look at her and wiped her face. "I was scared. I didn't think I'd be good enough and I was trying to work myself up. You moved on before I could get myself there… Not saying that's your fault! It was partially mine and partially Henry's for sliding in as soon as he saw an opening."

"And I felt so seen, so validated in that moment that I opened myself to exactly the kind of person that I'd promised myself that I would never open up to and he did exactly what I would have expected somebody like that to do."

"**I became my mother. Somebody's goddamn fool. I let Henry Hart play me and when I walked away from it, a portion of a person, I revisited the promise to myself that I wasn't going to be anybody's fool again. So, seeing Henry and Jasper close to each other, I can admit that I was triggered and that I jumped off hot, but… I guess that night, I preferred to be the loud, boisterous fool than the one that smiles through her suffering like her little girl isn't right next to her. I am not my mother. I can't just BE her. These mamas used to always say that you must think they're Booboo the Fool, I feel like just telling her, Yes, Mom. I do. I do think that you're Booboo the Fool, because that's how Dad has you looking. Clown shoes just squeaking around Swellview. *Shakes her head)**

.

Henry saw the pink viper driving up to the apartment and he furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't know that she was in town and he didn't know why she would be at Jasper's place. The pink diamond studded license plate that read "Piper" wasn't even the most noticeable thing about the vehicle, but she whipped it into a space and got out, almost in one fluid motion. "What are you doing here?" She wondered. He opened his mouth to answer, but she said, "Just kidding. I don't care, but you gotta get out of here."

"What are _you _doing here?"

"Obviously, I'm here for Charlotte. She wanted me to come get her for the night, so we're gonna get a hotel room and chill out until she's not so upset with everything. Congratulations on coming back into their lives and doing **this, **almost immediately."

"I didn't DO anything. I'm here to try to smooth things out. It was way too crowded and loud at the lounge to do it, and that's where they work."

"Well, I warned you," she said, throwing her hands into the air and going inside… with a key?

"You have a key to their home?"

"I made Jasper gave it to me after he almost killed himself over you. You remember? His mom found him choking on his own vomit on her bathroom floor? Yeah - I wasn't gonna have him living alone and having similar types of accidents."

"You live too far away to help, if he does!"

"But, here I am, with the key," she said and went inside, then locked the door. Piper and Henry got a long a lot better than they did whenever she was younger, but she had not been very happy with how he'd handled his friends and the relationships with them. In her mind, they were all supposed to treat each other better than that. In her mind, everything that happened that broke up the gang was because of her stupid brother and his penis policies. BUT, she wasn't going to say any of that in front of his cameras, because she wasn't on the show and even if they negotiated something that was acceptable for her brand, she didn't want to give them any material until they did. Besides, she'd already let her brother know how she felt about it and tonight was about her swooping in to help clean up one of his messes.

**.**

Whenever Jasper's jeep pulled into the parking lot of the apartment, Henry was still there. Jasper sighed and shook his head, "I can't deal with this," he said. It took a lot of energy to calm Charlotte down and get her home, and the last thing he wanted or needed was seeing Henry set her off again.

"What does he drive?" Charlotte wondered.

"That green hybrid…" She got out of the car and Jasper realized that maybe she was asking that for a bad reason. He rushed out of the jeep and smiled at her, "What… Are you doing?"

She was looking around on the ground. "Trying to find something," she said. Henry approached the two of them and started trying to explain why he left earlier and to apologize. Jasper started trying to convince him to just get in his car and go, but he was insistent. Charlotte went into the apartment. Jasper let out a sigh of relief, guessing that she probably didn't find anything useful outside… BUT, realized that inside, she knew what EVERYTHING was for!

"Look, you need to get out of here, before Charlotte busts your window with my hockey stick or something."

"She's mad, but come on, Dude. She wouldn't do that. It's illegal. Besides, you left me this exasperated voicemail accusing me of causing you problems and leaving. I just wanted to be able to talk to the two of you in a more quiet and comfortable environment. I want to invite you both to dinner at my place..."

"She asked me what car was yours, and she's been crying, fussing and drinking." Jasper didn't have time to focus on anything Henry was talking about. Charlotte might be back soon and think HE was giving energy to Henry.

"Yeah but…"

"Her dad is at her mom's house tonight," Jasper finally said, feeling a little bit like he might be betraying Char's confidence by telling Henry, but knowing that he'd understand better what state of mind she was in right now.

"Okay," Henry said and headed for his vehicle. As he started it up, he saw Piper and Charlotte coming out, with bags. Wait a minute… He stopped the car in the middle of the path out and got out of the car, "Are you leaving him? You can't do that, Char! It was a misunderstanding!" He begged. Charlotte turned to Jasper, looking like she would go off at any moment, holding her weekend bag and taking a deep breath. Jasper collected her and kissed her, whispered something to her and opened the passenger door to Piper's viper for her. Whenever she got in, he took her bags and helped Piper get them into the backseat.

"I'll take care of her. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time that I've had to do this," Piper told Jasper and gave him a hug. "It'll be okay. I'm gonna make sure she comes back." She quickly went to hug Henry too and advised him, "Just… Move carefully with them and mind your business." She gave him a peck on the cheek, got into her car, sped off and around his, honking the horn way too loud for this time of night and then peeled off out of the parking lot.

"She's just taking some time," Jasper said. "Night."

"Hey… You know that I didn't do that on purpose, right?" Henry asked. "It's important to me that you realize that."

"It's not that important to me whether or not it was on purpose. Henry… You saw that something was going terribly wrong and you just left."

"I didn't think that I'd be able to get through to her in that setting!"

"Okay. Well," Jasper shrugged his shoulders, "Thanks for stopping by. Night."

"Jasper…"

"Henry, I have to go collect my thoughts, okay? I need you to leave."

"I'm scared to. I don't want you to… hurt yourself, or something…" Henry was being sincere and Jasper knew he was, but he just wasn't in the mood right now for this. If Henry had done this years ago, yes. But, tonight, with Char in a car spending time _away from _Jasper to heal herself, Jasper didn't GAF how genuine Henry was.

"Look. I got drunk and was too drunk to monitor the amount of pills that I took. I wasn't trying to hurt myself that night and I'm not gonna hurt myself tonight. What I am gonna do is go inside and get myself cleaned up, watch something sad and probably cry, and check with Piper every few minutes to see how Charlotte is because since she's the one who went elsewhere tonight, she really could just decide not to come back and I'd have to deal with that. Good. Night." He went inside, ignoring Henry trying to say something else about keeping him company or at least text him in the morning to let him know he was okay or something. Jasper slammed the door a little harder than he meant to, but that was because he felt like Henry wasn't respecting his boundaries and the night had gone badly enough.

.

Jasper was still up whenever it was time for the sun to rise. He grabbed his juice and went to stand outside and knew that Henry was doing the same in the brownstone and Charlotte was in a hotel with a passed out Piper, doing the same, as well. He came back inside and checked his phone. Henry had sent several texts the previous night, but Charlotte had called him this morning. He called back immediately and she sounded better, "Hey. I didn't know if you'd be up or not. I was watching the sun rise and of course she reminded me that it's a new day. So, can I come home today, or should I take the ones that I asked for?"

"You can always come back to me, Charlotte. Whenever you're ready."

"Okay. Then, we'll be back probably before you go running with Henry, or whatever."

"I wasn't planning on going."

"I don't want you to think that because I was in my feelings last night that I want to control who you chill with, even if it's him. I just felt a way last night. Honestly, Piper thinks that it was a misunderstanding, so I'm gonna just apologize to him about it. I'm sorry that I flipped out."

"Actually, it was kinda hot that you were jealous, of course that was up until you were crying."

"Those were angry tears."

"No tears are hot, though."

"What if they're joy tears? Like, what if, hypothetically, we got married someday and I'm crying tears of joy, that wouldn't be even a little bit hot?"

"I stand corrected. That'd be the hottest thing that you ever did. If we get married, you gotta give me tears of joy."

"You can't plan tears of joy How about this - if we decide to get married and I don't cry tears of joy, you call the whole thing off."

"Sounds drastic."

"Are you not drastic?"

He scoffed, "No."

"I wish that I had a list to read off of how that declaration is a bold faced lie…"

.

Henry hoped that Jasper would show up at the gym. He hadn't gotten back to him, and if he didn't by the time his work out was over, he was going to go back to his apartment. Piper had texted him that since she was in town that she'd come workout with him. He asked her, "What about Charlotte?"

"Wow. Your only sister takes time to spend with you and that's what you ask me?"

"No, I just meant… I thought you were here for her."

"Last night, I was. She's going back home, so I'm coming to the gym, unless you wanna go running, instead?"

"No, we can meet at the gym." He was still hoping that maybe, just maybe Jasper might show up and he didn't want him to think that after all of that, he'd just left him again. So, he watered his flowers, grabbed his gym bag and his hygiene bag and went to the gym.

Whenever he arrived, Jasper and Piper were there and his face immediately brightened whenever he saw that Jasp HAD made it, after all. He smiled his biggest, hardest smile in a while, then Charlotte walked up, having came from Piper's car and he felt his smile falter, a little bit. She was pissed at him last night and he didn't know what condition she might be in today. Jasper took her bag and he and Piper headed inside as she approached Henry.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey."

"Piper and Jasper said that they'd give me a moment to talk to you about last night, and at this current time, we are ONLY talking about last night, you got it?"  
"Yes, Ma'am."

"Last night, I didn't expect to have to see you. You weren't on the filming schedule for me. I hadn't even emotionally prepared to see your face, so seeing your face and seeing it thisclose to my man's face - I didn't like it and I had to push it down while I'm singing love and longing songs and I didn't like that either. Long story short, I apologize for how I responded to what I saw. I don't want to be an angry person. I don't want to be a sad person. But, sometimes, I will feel both of those things and I need to be an adult and deal with them in a healthy way. All I ask is that if you're gonna be around me for the show or because you and Jasper have mended your friendship, or because you're Piper's brother and I love her to life, please… Don't just surprise me like that. Last night, I realized that I can't handle the emotional shock of you just showing up. Like how you stopped beaming whenever you saw me a few minutes ago. It was like that, but I was working and couldn't easily resolve the issue. Okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry. You were great, though. Like, I knew that you could sing, but you had an awesome stage presence, too. I'd love to have your permission to see you perform again, some time."

"We'll see," she said, a little disappointed that he hadn't also apologized for his part in things last night, but not surprised. He apologized to Jasper, and maybe that was all that he cared about for the moment.

"So… Did Jasper tell you about how the running went for him?"

"No. But, he didn't have to. Jasper hasn't run in years. I told him to start slow, but did he listen? No. In true Leo fashion, he jumped right to the highest setting. Taking up running with a superhero…" Her eyes widened and she looked at the camera.

"They know, remember? We'll cut it out," he said and held the door for her to the gym. She looked at it for a moment, like she was trying to process something and he wished he knew what it was. Did she think it was a trick? Was she simply surprised that he was being nice to her after last night? Was she impressed that he was getting the door for her even though all that she was holding was a water bottle and he had two very large bags, one on each arm? "You… okay?" She smiled gently, nodded and went inside. Henry followed her in. "**I really wish that I knew what she was thinking about whenever I was holding the door. For all we know, she just had a brain fart and was in a daze."**

"**Whenever Henry opened the door for me, I remembered all of the times when we were younger that he didn't! I remember always feeling like he might not really even like me, because it wasn't his natural response to just do nice little polite things for me. At the time, I'd rationalize that was because we were just friends and nothing else, but I was also only paying attention to it, because whenever I was little, my dad always grabbed doors for me and my mom, and as I got older, I noticed that he didn't do it for her anymore. Like, he was never mean or anything, but the stuff that my mind knew him to do wasn't being done and by the time I realized that he didn't like her anymore… I began almost subconsciously taking inventory of little things that people did for me. I've done it for years, not even on purpose or to rack up what I think that they think of me, but just as a habit. It gave me pause that Henry grabbed the door, but then I thought - he's got social skills, Girl. This means nothing and I went on with the rest of the day."**


	7. The Unspoken Stories

**The Unspoken Stories**

"**You know how sometimes, people say things like **'_**I had a feeling about this' **_**or** '_**I simply just knew," **_**or anything else to indicate that they possessed some intuition about things? I often wonder where that comes from? Is it like Charlotte says - the universe, energy, spirit, etc or whatever, or is it something inside of you that just tells you, like a superpower? I don't tend to have a lot of intuition about many things. I tend to try to assess what I see, but I'm usually battling with multiple questions about exactly what that is. I don't have any intuition that I know of, so the feeling that I've been getting around Char and Jasp… I think it's probably wishful thinking, but they're warming up to me."**

Jasper decided that a good place to maybe talk out some of Charlotte's tension, as it related to Henry and the other two girls was to have them air it out at the spa. Henry and Charlotte both thought that was a terrible idea, but he raised a good point, "Would it be better at a fancy restaurant, at dinner, where drinks might be thrown? Or at one of our homes, where possessions might be damaged? At least if things go poorly, everyone can go to a different room and get some stress relief treatment."

"Why are your expectations filled with violence?" Charlotte wondered, knowing that he probably was lowkey accusing her of possibly whipping somebody's ass.

She wasn't _violent, _so much as she had been more likely to fight since her breakup with Henry. That was the first time she struck someone in anger, and it felt good at the moment, but definitely bad afterwards. Even if she hadn't hurt her wrist, she hurt her pride. She let him make her so mad that she resorted to putting her hands on someone. She didn't like that about herself. And, it made it easier for her to be _willing _to put her hands on others, since then. Boxing helped, though. Punching a bad instead of punching people, whether or not they deserved it, kept her from punching her dad right in the chin any time that she saw him.

"Because, I've had to pull my girlfriend backstage for fighting customers," Jasper answered simply.

"Wasn't a fight. He grabbed me and I defended myself."

"You broke a glass over his head. I've DROPPED those glasses, numerous times. Do you know the level of not with the shits you have to be to break one of those on a human being?" Jasper wondered.

"He had a thick skull," she said and shrugged her shoulders. "**I'm not violent. I'm defensive. There's a difference. Whenever I punched at Henry, it was a reflex to him grabbing me when I was trying to leave and was already pissed. I've only ever hit men who made me feel threatened or violated my space. They might rule this world, but I'm not a part of any man's inheritance."**

Charlotte had a WHOLE regimen planned for the day. She had checked on the prices and made a checklist of what she was having done and they had decided that their chat could be held in the steam room. She and Jasper rode together, of course. He had his hair pulled up into a tiny bun that she kept snapping photos of and K(her)SL. Along with the stubble on his face, he looked so "Daddy," and she lived for it, but that bun was SENDING her.

The owner of the spa (the one with the history with Henry that he never quite acknowledged) made sure to be there herself to make sure that the group was treated fairly. Charlotte hoped to see some juicy backlash, but Henry was already there when she and Jasper came in, sweet-talking her. There were flowers there and a handwritten card. She was guessing that he apologized… She stopped Jasper and asked, "Is that Henry's handwriting?" in a quiet voice.

"Girl, no. Henry has a pensman."

"That's not a real word."

"Penman?"

"Somebody writes letters for Henry?"

"Whenever he wants to suck up extra hard. The dyslexia, you know, makes letters from him more heartfelt?"

"But, if he didn't WRITE it himself, how is it heartfelt?"

"She doesn't know he didn't write it." Charlotte started to put him on blast, but they needed to have the big conversation and she could always clarify with homegirl, later. There was no way that she was gonna just let that woman be played out by this boy again.

Henry smiled at Charlotte and Jasper as they approached. "Look who it is! My favorite people!" He cheered and went to hug them. "Got you some flowers," he said and handed each of them a yellow rose.

Jasper forced a smile, but looked sad. Charlotte definitely noticed and wondered, "What's wrong?" She was on the alert and ready to defend him, if need be. He gave her a kiss on the temple and whispered that he'd rather not get into it. "**So, whenever Henry and I were… involved, if he did something mean or hurt me, he'd always apologize with yellow roses. He said yellow roses were for apologies to your friend, and since I'm his best friend, he never wanted to let any kinda problems go unchecked or any kind of hurt he caused me to go without apology… When I went to the hospital, he didn't even come to see me, but he sent me six dozen yellow roses and I honestly thought that I'd never get another from him. I had a lot of feelings when he handed me a single…"*Starts crying and gets up.***

The spa owner got a whole bouquet of various apology flowers, but since they were having a spa day, Henry felt like single yellow roses were the way to go for his company. He knew that Jasper would get it, if nobody else did. Jasper seemed pretty emotional about it. Henry didn't have the intuition to know whether it was good or bad. Charlotte had the intuition to know that it was a mixture of both, but she didn't know the context and that irritated her.

Chloe and Bianca showed up, holding hands and laughing together. Chloe had on some open toe shoes and Charlotte looked down and asked, "Getting something done with those feet today?"

Chloe smiled awkwardly and laughed a little, "Should I?"

"It's up to you," Charlotte said, then unintentionally, but intentionally looked right at the camera as she tried to stifle a smile. "**My mother used to tell me that I had to remember to moisturize so that I wouldn't be ashy. I didn't realize that Chloe needed to moisturize too." **

Bianca said, "Oh, we should TOTALLY get our feet done!"

"I saw a foot mask made especially for crack repairs," Charlotte suggested. Henry tried really hard to not laugh, realizing that even though her voice was very sweet, that was most likely shade. Chloe's feet were looking kinda worn.

"**Charlotte must have some kind of foot fetish or something. She was REALLY centered on my feet! What people don't know is that I'm an athlete. I've been on multiple reality show challenges and have even won some seasons. So, yes, my feet are a little less feminine than the girl who can't decide if she's a singer or a scientist. I've actually gotta get out there and grind."**

"Would you like a naked steam room?" The owner asked. Henry looked around at his company. Bianca and Chloe looked down for it. Jasper didn't seem to care (or maybe he didn't hear. He was staring at his rose). Whenever Henry made eye contact with Charlotte, she had a raised eyebrow DARING him to say yes.

"I think we'll be good in one with clothes?" He said, still looking at Charlotte to see if her face changed. She relaxed a little.

"Robe sizes needed?"

Charlotte snuggled up to Jasper and wondered, "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," He looked up at her and smiled. She was a happy part of life. He didn't need to dwell on the dark parts. "I was just thinking about how lucky I am now, versus how it could have been, how it used to be."

She nodded, "Well, you won't be able to bring that into the steam room. You wanna put it in a locker and I can maybe preserve the petals for you when we get home?"

"No," he said and tossed it into the trash. "I don't need to hang on to any of that."

She didn't know what _any of that _meant, but she wrapped her arm around him from the side and leaned up to make him bend down for a kiss. "**Jasper threw my rose away. I didn't know if that meant that he didn't accept my apology or if it meant that there was nothing to be forgiven, but it hurt to see. But, Charlotte, she kissed hers and she put it away safely. I know that she's probably gonna save the petals, like she used to… or I hope. I don't have intuition, like I said. I'm guessing, here."**

.

Charlotte kept her spa shoes on her feet, grateful to have them. Who knew what those roach stompers Chloe had might bring into the room with them? Jasper was sweating before they even got into the room. He and Charlotte sat next to each other, Bianca and Chloe sat across from them and Henry tried to figure out where he might be best seated… He decided across from Charlotte and Jasper, since they were what was really important to him and he wanted to look them in the eyes as they did… whatever would be done here today.

"Okay, so, thank you everybody for coming here today. I don't want to ruin this place for you, so I sucked it up and apologized to the owner, even though most of that was all in her head. I just want everything out, like I told Jasper. I want to deal with it head on and show everyone that I have changed and I want to introduce you to who I am now. I want you to get to know me, today, as I am… But, I also understand that might not be possible without addressing the shit that I've done in the past, to everybody here, really. If anybody has any questions or comments, I am open for them."

Charlotte looked at Jasper, "You wanna talk to him about something between the two of you?" Maybe, Jasper might open up now that they were having this time together. She knew that he wasn't okay and all she wanted was for him to be better. This whole thing was more of Henry's idea, she gathered, to curb his guilt, but if Jasper could benefit from it; she wanted that more than anything she wanted for herself. She _must really_ love that dude, she realized.

Jasper cleared his throat and said, "I'm not that concerned with our past. It ended very miserably for me and I didn't come here, today, or agree to the show to rehash any of that or relive it. But, I've been rehashing and reliving things, and you've seemed fine. If I want to know anything, it's about right now. Right now, what is it that you want, Henry? Why are we all here?"

He said in a very low and soft voice, "I just want you two to love me again."

Jasper noticeably, immediately went soft and nodded his head. The answer was good enough for him. "**What I think a lot of people don't understand is that no matter WHAT happened between Henry and I, no matter how he hurt me or how I processed it; we were best friends for most of my life. My dad and his mom used to be super close and we were brought together before either of us were conscious about our surroundings." *Tears up* "We were… soul mates. However you consider that to be. We were connected at the soul, like one person, for a huge portion of my life - my entire fucked up childhood, there was **_**nobody **_**that treated me better than Henry, and why wouldn't I forgive him for mistakes that were made when we were young and he was already hurting? Nobody gets to control how I choose to respond with him reaching out and asking for my forgiveness. Maybe that's stupid. Maybe it's foolish, but how do you hate a part of yourself forever? Even the less shiny parts, you have to figure out a way to live with, and Henry has been a super shiny part and a super dark part of ME. Not just my life, but a part of me. I've carried him in my heart since before I knew what love was. Of course I could love him again. I do love him. I never stopped. I never would stop."**

Charlotte wasn't as moved in the same direction as Jasper, and to be honest, in hindsight, they probably should have had separate conversations, because seeing Jasper just forgive him in his heart, while he might not have actually said it out loud… that made _her _heart harder. He noticed the darkening of her features as she glared in Henry's direction and took her hand and kissed it, trying to smooth her over. Because him loving Henry didn't take anything away from him loving her. He loved both of them for different reasons, in different ways and he never wanted to be apart from her, no matter what kind of love he had for anyone else. "What did you do to him, Henry? What would make this big hearted, kind spirited person who has always taken mistreatment from loved ones with a grain of salt… What would make him turn against you? I do some things that I'm not proud of to Jasper every single day and he still loves me. We watched his parents not give even pinches of fucks about him all throughout school, and he still loved them. We saw him idolize our boss, who wasn't really that fond of him for many years, and he loved him… So my suspicious self, my smart self, I _have to _always wonder what in the world that you did to somebody that I LOVE, with most of my heart to make him not love you?"

"I didn't stop loving him," Jasper injected. She gently pulled her hand away. "I only say that to say… The things that you're saying right now, they're very triggering and just stirring things up and it's not really like that, so please…"

"I'm sorry," she whispered and nodded at him, empathetically. He took a deep breath and leaned back. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, Babe."

"Please, don't do that. I hurt you and I don't want you to just brush it off, like it didn't happen. Everyone needs to be held accountable for what they do."

"Every time somebody hurts someone, it isn't necessarily on purpose. I think that intent matters," Jasper said. "I love you, too. I don't care if you hurt me, because I know that wasn't your intent."

"But, you're still hurt."

"And you feel remorse for that. Don't beat yourself up." He hugged her. She was soft, but she was still wondering, "**Seriously, what did he do to my man to have him in the bad way that I've heard he was in after they broke up?"**

Charlotte heard one of the other two girls mumble something and her head snapped in their direction so fast that they both startled. "Did you have something to add? To help out? He didn't say anything about wanting your love, so what's the tea? Why are YOU TWO here? Oh, yeah, to discuss your part in all the bullshit."

Bianca cleared her throat and said, "I was simply saying that you two are so good together that I don't know why you even care about what Henry wants, at this point."

"I thought that me and Henry were good together at some point too, but you didn't right? And that's fine, you're entitled to feel how you feel and do what you do. You're grown, you were grown at the time, and you weren't involved with me, so I never came at you or confronted you or anything like that. But you, both of you, came over to our place, smiled in my face, played nice with me, and both of you weren't about shit, behind my back."

Bianca scoffed a chuckle and said, "Well, we were all pretty young when all of that happened. I had recently learned that you were the one who initially suggested that Henry ask me out, and Chloe felt some kind of way about it…"

Chloe threw in, "Henry and I hadn't officially broken up, but you were pretty accepting of another girl being brought into his life, back then."

"GIRL! You are really here, sitting here telling me that the reason you were disrupting my love life was because of something that happened when we were in school?" Charlotte cackled, but there was a terrifying anger in it. "BITCH. PLEASE."

"Well, today, it's like 6 or 7 years since that happened and you're still mad. For me, at the time, it had been maybe about the same amount of time, I was younger, and I thought that Henry had just moved on because of distance, when really, he moved on because you pressured him to move on. I wasn't even mad that I had lost Henry, but when I found out, I was hurt about it, so I wasn't that concerned about your relationship, just as you hadn't been concerned about mine. We're ALL older and wiser now and I've moved on."

"You've moved on because you didn't have something important taken from you. You had the chance to go be on TV or be with Henry and like any kid would, you went with TV. Henry had a crush on Bianca and I, as a friend, supported that. When you left, in my head, that was that. What you did to me, we were grown and Henry and I were in a REAL relationship. And to this day, I've never come at you about it or anything. So, for me to be trying to console Jasper, who was SUPPOSED to be your friend and for you two to be having a little side conversation, ah kee keeing and shit… Man, fuck y'all. Y'all are so fake. To this day. You're both some fakes and Jasper deserves better friends." Charlotte was fuming.

Henry finally spoke up and said, "It was my fault. I shouldn't have been airing out things to Bianca, but when that started, you and I were having some issues and I couldn't talk to Jasper or any of our mutual friends about it, and I didn't really have a lot of alternatives."

"So, fuck me?" Charlotte asked and laughed sarcastically.

"At the time, I was worried that talking to you about it wouldn't be received properly. So, I started talkin' to Bianca, and a few things came out - that weren't necessarily secrets, but stuff we had never talked about. I was actually speaking pretty generally about it all when I told her that you were the one that encouraged me to ask her out, and she told me that she'd kissed Kid Danger when we were together and I told her that wasn't important anymore and we just were chilling and laughing and connecting. I didn't expect it to turn emotional. I didn't expect her to talk to Chloe about what she'd learned. Whenever Chloe asked me about it, I very nonchalantly told her the truth and it was years before, so like you said, we were kids, I didn't think anything of it. But, I didn't know that she felt hurt to find that out. Sometimes, we hold on to things that happen, not specifically because of that event or the person involved, but because of other things in our makeup."

"Okay, but if she was still feeling a way, she could have said, 'Hey Charlotte, I know this was a long time ago, but it's fresh to me, because I just found out that you openly supported my first boyfriend moving on while I was away for a little while, and I'm having trouble feeling okay about that.' We could've discussed it. Not… started a group chat with the two of you to fish for information about our problems and then deliberately try to drag me."

"It wasn't like that," Chloe said.

"I read the entire thread. It took me hours, because it was months of inappropriate things. You started it off with a little disparaging joke about how you three could be the Charlotte is the Blame Club. Bianca had told you about my "prude problems," and you wanted to let Hen know that you two were there for him, if he needed to blow off any steam. "Emphasis on blow, lol."

Chloe was speechless. She didn't even remember most of that chat, but apparently it had mattered to Charlotte.

Bianca said, "I promise, it was completely innocent, in the beginning. We thought it was kinda funny that you two dated so long and you didn't do certain things for him."

"It's nobody's business what hangups that I have, but since everybody's business is out right now, I will say this, I wasn't able to slut around when I was young. My mother tried to be supportive of me being sexually aware, but long story short, she was very sexually wholesome and I didn't do anything with anybody until Henry. So, yes, it took me a while to get into the habit of things. This boy didn't even wash his legs whenever we got together, so no, as a science minded person who understands how germs

work and shit, I didn't wanna be doing a lot of risky stuff with him. And whenever I WOULD do something, I had to be sure everything was clean and clear and ready. Henry was the one who didn't feel like "going through all of that for a BJ.' Okay. That was his choice, just like it was my choice to not get ball sweat or ball hair anywhere near my face and mouth area! Maybe you're fine with musty nuts in yours. I wasn't. And that was MY. BUSINESS. With MY. BOYFRIEND. But, it's not your fault that he told you that. It WAS your fault that you shared it with Chloe, because if he wanted to share our business, okay, but why did you feel like you could share it?"

"Because I didn't give a damn, Charlotte!" Bianca snapped. "I'm sorry that early college years, I didn't care about privacy or things like that. It sounded like a scandal and it was humorous to me. I didn't know that it would become what it became, which, even right now, wasn't anything very important to me. It was a part of my life as a young adult. I'm sorry that it affected you like it did. I truly am. You seem like you were very kind to Henry and I feel like what we did made you less kind. I'm sorry that I helped you become this bitter person…"

"BITCH…" ***Camera shakes and moves around through a lot of shuffling and winds up on Charlotte, getting tackled by the security* "This bitch got me injured. Couldn't even angrily speak my mind without being seen as a threat."**

Jasper was pulling on the guard, "Get the fuck off of her! She didn't DO anything!" Charlotte was screaming, in pain and Henry was signaling to cut the camera. The camera didn't stop. They might need the footage. Chloe and Bianca had rushed to the other side of the sauna and Henry and Jasper were both fussing with the guard. "You get the fuck out, You're fired. Hell no! You don't get to grab her like that, are you serious?"

"What is happening?" the owner of the spa asked from the doorway.

The guard said, "She was about to attack, and that's where I have to step in. It's my job."

"SHE STOOD UP AND WALKED TOWARDS HER!" Henry yelled, at the same time Jasper yelled, "SHE DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH HER!" They were both yelling about how Charlotte sometimes gets in your face, but she wasn't violent and threatening to press charges and insisting that he left immediately before he got his ass kicked. They heard Charlotte groaning and went to check on her.

"I'm pretty sure he bruised my ribs," she said crying. "**Whenever the guard tackled Charlotte, everything happened so fast that I froze for a moment. But, when I snapped to… This motherfucker, a big grown man, had slammed my girlfriend onto a hard tile floor, crushing her and pinning her down in the process, and… I have never been more pissed in my entire goddamned life."**

"**Whenever the person I hired tackled Charlotte for essentially standing up while angry, I felt responsible for that. She was hurt. It wasn't as serious as it could've been, but he's got size on her and the situation - you see a tiny woman, in a bathrobe, in a steam room approaching another woman, you can easily step in front of her and maybe ask her to step back. Tackling her was so unnecessary and infuriating."**

"**I was in so much pain. I hit my tailbone on that tile, and my elbow. I bumped my head when I reflexively tried to get away and he slammed me back down telling me to hold still. If they show that footage, you'll probably see my entire puss. He had me straddled, restrained and bruised me up pretty bad, including how hard he pinned me down. I looked like somebody beat the hell out of me and I felt like it. Because I dared to walk in a white girl's direction while Black and pissed." *Sighs hard and shakes her head.**

Charlotte was hurt enough that she just wanted medical attention and didn't care how that happened. Henry and Jasper took her to the ER and once she was treated, Henry insisted that she stay at the brownstone to recover. It had more room, and was more luxurious and she accepted. She was going to be resting and taking meds. Jasper collected her stuff from home to bring over. "You wanna stay? I have much more room than I need, or even two people," Henry said.

"No. I'll let you two try to work some things out while she heals. Maybe it can be a double healing. If she asks me to come to stay, then I'll take you up on the offer. I think she's just trying to process the attack by herself and I'm glad that you're providing a safe space for her to do that."

Henry nodded. "I can't believe that happened."

"I can't believe that we didn't kill him," Jasper said. "But, then I'd be in prison and she'd still be injured."

"Yeah, I might pay him a visit in the suit later. Asshole."

Jasper nodded. "Well… I'll have my phone right by me and on the loudest setting if she needs me. Take care of my bae."

"I'll take care of her like she's mine."

"Not… That much," Jasper said and partially smiled.

"We didn't really finish the conversation…"

"We did. Sorry it didn't happen how you hoped, but… I think she at least feels a little more trusting now. She's staying here, isn't she? Just… work with what you've got. I'd love for the two of you to patch things up. I miss the three of us." Jasper and Henry hugged and Jasper left.

Henry peeked in on Charlotte. She was passed out, asleep and medicated. Jasper had set her things in certain places that Henry was sure were how she must've liked them. Jasper was really good at stuff like that. "Sweet dreams, Char," he softly told her.

"Night," she said, mostly in her sleep.


	8. Sleepover at Henry's

**Sleepover at Henry's**

Charlotte woke up and was startled by the appearance of a couple of faces hovering above her. "She's awake! Hellooo! It's me, Schwoz, from where you used to work!"

She held her hand over her chest, catching her breath as told him, "I know who you are, Schwoz!"

Ray folded his arms and fussed, "Well, you sure don't act like you know us. We haven't seen you in YEARS!"

"I was busy," she said and was grateful that she hadn't been sleeping naked, like she generally did. "Why are you in here?"

"Well, Henry went to handle a little business," Ray said winking at her.

"Yes, he had some work to do.." Schwoz added, also winking.

"You could say that he has some _feel good _work…" Ray said, winking even more and now he and Schwoz were just smiling and winking way too much.

"The crew knows," she said and moved Schwoz so that she could climb out of bed. She groaned as she did.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Where are you trying to go?" Ray asked. "You can't leave. Look at how banged up you are! Schwoz, get the Bang Bang Bag!"

Schwoz rolled his eyes, "I don't work for you. You get the Bang Bang Bag." They bickered for a moment, then noticed that Charlotte had gotten up and began to mess with her own things, primarily, her phone. "Fine! Fine, I'LL get the Bang Bang Bag!" She heard in the background as she checked to see that she had multiple messages from people who Jasper must've told that she had gotten hurt, including both of her parents.

_Piper: I saw what happened on Bianca's TwitFlicks! WTF? Henry told me that you're okay, but for good measure, I called up our Bilsky bunch. It's not going down the way that it did, Bruh. Gang Gang! Seriously, CALL ME if you need anything. I'm just a few hours away, less on a plane._

_Ya Mama: Baby, call me when you get a chance. I've spoken with the family lawyer and already have contact information from the witnesses for what happened. Hopefully, you're resting. _

_That Muffugga: Charlotte, I've tried to call you several times. I know that you're still mad and processing things, but you need to let me know if you're okay and what you need. No matter what, you'll always be my little girl and I'll always be here for you._

_Jasper: Your dad stopped by. I didn't even know that he knew where I lived, but anyway, I can't sleep. I'm so sorry about everything that happened. I… I'll call you. My hands are shaking. I don't want to type this out._

She had other texts, but she immediately checked her voicemail. She went specifically to Jasper's, ignoring ones from her parents and electing to check Piper's afterwards (it was probably prior to her text, anyway). "Hey, Char… Look… I hope that you don't hate me. I promise, I was just trying to do the right thing… "**So, here I am panicking, like oh my God, please don't let Jasper have gone looking for that guy, because he's so protective and even though he's a big cuddle bear, he can be as dangerous as a bear whenever he's in protective mode…" **"I know how it can go down when a fight breaks out. You know that I've been bartending for a while and I see it happen when people get too drunk and angry… I was so concerned with making sure that you got help and trying to make sure that I stayed with you…" He sighed. "I should have taken more action. I'm sorry. And, I understand if you don't feel as safe with me now or if you need your recovery time away from me. I just wanted you to know, I was actually thinking about you and I made the decision to try to get you to a doctor instead of making sure he needed to see one. I don't know if that was the right choice, but I'm gonna let you decide things. Hoping to hear from you…"

She was about to call him back when she heard a loud bang and screamed. She turned to look at Schwoz, holding a bottle that he had uncorked and he and Ray both cheered, "Bang Bang!" Schwoz poured some of whatever it was in that bottle into a glass that Ray was holding. "The doctors said healing would take a few weeks, but we have a Schwoz! And, we have the Bang Bang Bubbly!" He offered her the glass.

"What is this?" She asked, not taking it.

"It's a sparkling brandywine with fast healing properties and stuff in it that tastes great, makes you feel invincible and bangs out all of your injuries from the inside out!" Ray cheered. "Doesn't work for me, because I'm indestructible, but the results in a typical human body are way way great!"

"Schwoz, what is this?" Charlotte repeated, taking the glass and studying it. Schwoz explained it to her and they went back and forth with her asking about side effects of certain ingredients and statistics of the countermeasures for those risks and Ray lost interest, but at the end of it, she sighed and said. "I'm gonna call Jasper and talk to him. Then, I'm gonna tell him about this. I'm gonna let him know that if something happens to me, it was this and you can deal with whatever that'll mean for you."

Ray scoffed. "I'm not afraid of Jasper!"

"I've gotten him his own stash of Jolly beetle tears."

Ray gasped, "Why would you even HAVE those?"

"I did a major global study using them to break down certain unstable molecules and other very important usages that don't revolve around you, but definitely was an important time for me to stock up and also invest in them. I knew we'd meet again and you won't catch me slipping, Ray Manchester." She began to dial Jasper's number while Ray folded his arms.

"Hey!" Jasper answered, excited, but tired sounding.

"Hey. So, I woke up to something truly weird…"

"Ray and Schwoz excitedly trying to convince you to drink their Bang Bang Bubbly?"

She looked at the two of them, waiting with anticipation of her drinking it and turned away from them, making a suspicious and confused face. "Yes, but something more weird. I got this message from my man, and he was all weirdly sounding like he was blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault or thinking for some reason that I blamed him."

She could hear the relief in his next words. "I just wanted to make sure that we're okay. I wanted to give you your recovery time without me, because I wasn't sure how you were gonna process that I didn't help you."

"You did, though. How would it have helped me for you to punch that guy?"

"It would have helped me."

"Okay, I don't know how, but thank you for putting my wellness above your ego."

"I hate it. I'm glad that you're okay, but I hate that I didn't slam him just as hard to the ground…"

"So far, I've been alerted that the Bilskys, my family's lawyers and that girl Karma that I fucks with are all gunning for him. I just want to stop being in pain and to…" She looked at Ray and Schwoz, nearly bursting with excitement. "... Be able to cuddle with my Booty Bear."

"Okay!" Ray said and promptly left. Schwoz smiled and was still waiting on her to try his stuff. She shot it and handed him the glass, then her eyes watered. Jasper was about to say something, but she began panting and whimpering.

"You tried the Bubbly," Jasper observed.

"Why does it feel like my mouth and insides are on fire?"

"That means it's working," Schwoz and Jasper said simultaneously, one next to her and the other on the phone.

.

She crept out of the room and went to explore, clad in one of Jasper's shirts that she sometimes wore to bed/around the apartment. Now that Henry was out heroeing, she had a chance to explore his place without an obligatory tour. She loved all of the flowers! They had always had plenty of flowers when she lived with him, too, but never this much. Plus, he had an indoor herb garden that the naturalista in her was craving to get to know better. Every plant was so healthy and it was like she could feel the vibrations of them and sense the love that went into making them strong. The artwork on the walls were a mixture of styles. She could tell that Henry pretty much just got things that he liked, and wasn't going with a theme. The biggest painting was the one of him with flowers. She wondered who was commissioned to do it, because the details were excellent.

Each room seemed like it was in a different home, because so many of the vibes differed. Like, the bedroom that she was staying in was natural colors, browns, greens, neutrals, warm shades, filled with green plants, and had large uncovered windows, with plants outside of them. It was the perfect kind of room for her. It made her feel extremely comfortable and relaxed. There was a room that sort of looked like it was a cabin on a ship and had a fountain, so water sounds and earthy tones that seemed like a man cave, but not a busy one - somewhere you might go to become grounded. His living room was white, near the stairway, with plants on the wall and hanging from the ceiling in white globes, and the couch was sleek and black. It looked like he never used this room. All over the place were different goddess statues, most of which Charlotte recognized from mythology lessons years ago, but a few unfamiliar. There were poignant paintings, like one that was of a dark skinned woman, bound in chains and engulfed in flames, like a Black anima sola. It made her feel troubled to see it. There was a Black Madonna, that she couldn't lie… KINDA looked a lot like her, but with a golden halo and stars and stuff. Then, there were others that weren't as emotional - a list of Scorpio Men Facts: "The Scorpio Male Is Intensely Sexual, He Needs Deep Intensity, He Has Great Stamina, You Get What You Give in Love With Scorpio Men… HA! Lying ass. You get lying asses with Scorpio men." Then, there was a holographic photo of fish swimming, like in an aquarium simulation. She furrowed her eyebrows and explored on.

Outside of his bedroom was a hallway of framed photos of the three of them, of course, all outdated, since she hadn't taken a photo with he and Jasper in years. She opened the door to the bedroom (that was how she realized it was the bedroom), and she saw a beautiful, elegant white and gold bedroom with white and yellow (she presumed fake) flowers sprinkled along the ground, and a bed with an ornate gold canopy adorned with sheer drapery.

Normally, she wouldn't have walked into someone's bedroom, but she was now invested in the absolute lavishness of it and stepped in to look at the detailing of the headboard, and noticed other things, like the mirrored wall behind the bed, and floral designs in the gold of the bed and lamps. There were flower petals in the bed and she picked up and few to touch, and saw that those were real. Then she heard him clear his throat. She yelped. "Sorry, I wasn't snooping. I was just looking around…" She said, dropping the petals. She stood up and looked up at him, still in his Feel Good uniform, a dark burgundy and blue armored outfit with silver and black accents and tools. She hadn't seen him in it before. He… looked really good… "I gave myself a tour and the room was so pretty, I just wanted a closer look."

"It's all good. Make yourself at home," he said and blew a bubble, which transformed him back to his regular self, in a t-shirt and jeans. He still looked really good, to her. "Did you sleep well?" He asked.

"I did. But, Schwoz came in with Bang Bang Bubbly, and now, I'm restless."

"Yeah, that stuff is something else. But, it gets you healed quickly." He was standing, with his hands in his pockets and they were quiet for a moment, before he said, "Oh, damn. I'm so rude. Have you eaten? I can make you something."

"I haven't, but Jasper was on his way over, so I thought we might get something."

"I'll call him and let him know I'll cook. The least that I can do is be a good host, after getting you slammed onto concrete."

"Why is everybody trying to take credit for that? I'm certainly not about to blame myself because I got up and walked towards her. He made a choice, and I'm pressing charges."

Henry's face brightened, "Thank God. I thought you'd wake up hating me even more."

"I don't hate you. I hate that you hurt me. I hate that I trusted you. I hate how things ended. But, I've decided not to hate any person for being whoever they are. Trying that whole "hate the sin, not the sinner" trope."

"How's it working?"

"To be honest, I feel like I'm more upset to have learned about how much you hurt Jasper." He winced. "I mean, I know I can be a bitch, and I know that a lot of the time, I was insufferable. I can easily look back on past me and think that cheating on me was not as criminal as it felt at the time. Not saying that I don't blame you for your choices, just that I understand them better, the older that I get. You still should have been my friend enough to be honest with me where you weren't happy or satisfied, but… what happened with Jasper? No vague shit, no sugar coding. Tell me what you did to him."

"**I'm feeling like at this point, if Henry REALLY wants us to love him again, or at least me, he's gonna have to start just being straightforward and straight up with me. Jasper and I are on two very different wavelengths, so it takes something different to appease me. I'm tired of being kept in the dark about Jasper, when they both know everything about what happened between Henry and I."**

Henry sighed, ran a hand through his hair and held his hand out towards the bed. She sat down and he joined her and began to tell her the truth.

"It all just kinda happened. It started out as a fling, a rebound, after you left… Like… three months after you left, actually… Well, if I'm being honest, it began before that. Jasper and I experimented in school. Nothing major, just making out and handies and stuff. But, that was shut down automatically when you and I hooked up, then you and I got together and I never thought about Jasper that way, really. I still thought he was attractive and loveable, but for me, we were done. When you and me were together those 4 years, Jasper, I guess didn't get over me as easily and so whenever you and me broke up, he was there for me in a way that I wasn't expecting. But, I was hurting and I needed it, whether or not it occured to me that I needed him.

About a year later, he started talking about our 'anniversary,' like… we were together or something, and don't get me wrong, we had been going pretty hard and heavy for a year, at that point, but I hadn't expected a year of that to pass by. Jasper was just so good to me and so easy to be with. A year in, I still wasn't emotionally where I needed to be in order to be good back to him. So, I told him that I didn't want to put any labels on us…" "**I was pretty scared of being in a relationship after what happened with Char. I didn't realize at the time that being involved with Jasper the way that I was, WAS being in a relationship with him. I felt like we were two dudes who loved each other, having a good time together."**

"So… Whenever he spoke about this one year anniversary, I chickened out. I self sabotaged. I would try to tell him, but I'd see his face and lose the nerve. I knew that I was gonna hurt him, and I figured that it was best just not to tell him, even though I wasn't happy and the fact that I was doing stuff behind his back was a huge portion of why I wasn't happy…"

"Why didn't you just STOP? You had your degree by then, didn't you?"

"I had studied psychology, but I don't know. I hadn't sorted through my own things and hadn't become self aware yet. My mom went to a specialist for a sex addiction. She didn't tell me until around that time, because she heard things about me and was worried that maybe I had her sickness." He laughed and shook his head, "I wasn't addicted to sex. I was addicted to doing something terrible that I could get caught doing, and the fact that someone could be hurt again if I got caught… I didn't care in the moment. Jasper saw mw leaving somewhere with a woman and whenever he tried to get in touch with me, I didn't answer. When I got home, I told him that I was doing hero stuff. He didn't believe me and we wound up arguing and I told him that I had slipped up a little, because I missed women." Henry looked so ashamed as he shook his head, "He said that he understood and just asked me to be more open with him, said that he was willing to open up our relationship if it meant that I didn't lie to him about being with women. And… so… we tried that, and a little later, I met a new guy."

Charlotte took a deep breath and clenched her fists. "And, what, you cheated on Jasper again, this time with a guy?"

"Yes, but the guilt was killing me, so a few months after we were seeing each other secretly, I told Jasper…"

_*Flashback Sequence*_

_After two years of being involved with Jasper, and technically one year, as far as Henry was concerned, Jasper wanted to celebrate their 2 year anniversary. He cooked, baked, set the atmosphere, with music and candles and flowers. Henry just couldn't stand to lie to him anymore. He stopped him mid-kiss and said, "Jasper, we have to stop this." Jasper was rightfully confused. He picked up the remote and turned off the music, to hear whatever Henry had to say, "I… I… don't think that I'm meant to be a monogamous person."_

"_You haven't been, though. We have an open relationship, because I understood that sometimes you don't want a man…"_

"_I've been seeing a man." Jasper's heart sank._

"_What do you mean "been seeing?" Like… regularly? Not some one off mistake, but like… SEEING someone?" He glanced around for something to hold on to, grabbed the wine bottle and took a swig._

"_Yeah. I've been seeing him for like 4 months, almost…" Jasper started crying and chugging the bottle. "I never meant for it to happen, but I can't keep doing this. I can't keep being this person behind your back and then becoming someone else whenever I'm with you. I do love you and I never meant to hurt you, but being with you was never my intention and I shouldn't have let it go this far."_

"_Let it GO THIS FAR? What the fuck are you talking about right now?"_

"_I'm just letting you know that you don't have to worry about me cheating anymore, if that's how you see this. Because, it's over. I can't do "us," anymore."_

_Jasper huffed out a pained gust of air and dropped the wine bottle. Henry quickly caught it before it could hit the ground. He set it down and said, "Um… You don't have to pack your own things. I'll box it up and send it to your mom's."_

"_I'm not leaving here! YOU leave. You're the one who cheated!"_

"_Cheated is a strong word. We never used labels. I just didn't tell you right away when I moved on. And… You can't afford this place on your own, Jasper. Come on."_

"_I'm not leaving this goddamned apartment while my world is fucking falling apart, you complete and utter asshole!"_

"_Okay. We'll give it some time. I'll go stay in Man Cave, and pack up my things whenever I know that you aren't here. That way, we don't have to deal with each other, until we're ready to try to get past this."_

_Jasper stared at him, not crying now, just in awe of what kind of person he was looking at - this stranger that he thought was his forever love. Who the fuck was this man? "Can you at least PRETEND to be a good person right now?"_

"_I pretend to be a good person every time I blow a bubble. Every time I save someone's life. Every time I help someone's day. I'm TIRED of pretending to be a good person. I just want to be able to be a person! And have somebody love /that/ person, without all these rules and regulations and expectations that I never gave you! I'm human. I make mistakes. I forgive you your mistakes all of the time, you can't forgive me mine?" He snapped. Jasper didn't know where THIS was coming from, but it seemed like he was speaking to someone else. He was thinking about Charlotte. Because, there had never been anything that Jasper hadn't forgiven him for, until now._

_Jasper stood up, hovering over Henry with a desperate look on his face. He wanted so badly to forgive him this. To say it was okay and that they didn't need to be together and Henry didn't have to lose him, but this...hurt him. "Your mistakes break people's hearts, Henry! They break people's lives. Charlotte is not the same person, and I'm seeing that I never will be the same again, either."_

_Now, Henry became wounded. He was feeling attacked and therefore defensive and lashed back at Jasper, like he hadn't already hurt him enough. He stood up quickly and Jasper stepped back, unsure if this might get physical. But, Henry blurted, "Charlotte at least loved me. She took me seriously. She told me what she needed and wanted and I tried and fell short. Charlotte could be a raging bitch, but I never had to guess what she expected from me. I never had to wonder if she cared or if this was just for mutual enjoyment and comfort. We had something very different and you comparing what happened with us to what happened with me and you is trash, Jasper! You freely gave me whatever I wanted and we never agreed that I had to be your faithful one true love or anything for that matter. If you wanted more from me, was I supposed to read your mind? I was just supposed to figure it out by the way that you never told me? I never did anything to directly hurt or harm you. I kept my sidelife out of your business, just in case that made you uncomfortable, because I wouldn't have known one way or another, from the way that you just agreed to whatever I gave you! So, the fact that you took us so seriously and made up in your head some type of future that I could have told you we'd never have seems like a lot to try to put on my shoulders, alone!"_

_Jasper stumbled backwards and caught himself, but he was now crying again, "I am telling you that you broke my heart and you're telling me how it was my fault."_

"_I'm explaining to you why I didn't realize that you felt the way that you felt!"_

"_And now that you realize, what do you plan to do about it?"_

"_I'm gonna set you free, Dude. I can't do what you need me to do. I can't be who you need me to be. I can't be the good person that you want me to pretend to be, because I use too much energy being the good person that being a superhero needs me to be. I love you too much to keep doing this to you, now that I know how you feel."_

"_Couldn't you just… stop? Am I not enough that you can't just love and be in love with me?"_

"_I could. I would… But, I feel like I've already crossed too many lines for you to be able to believe it from me, at this point. You'd never trust me again, no matter what I did, and I'd see it and I'd act on it. I'm… not ready to fight for love. I have to fight for so many things… Myself just doesn't seem like enough to me."_

"_And I'm not enough either?"_

"_More than enough, Jasp. You're so much better than what I've given you and what I ever will. So… I'm gonna go, and hopefully you'll be able to forgive me enough to at least let me try to be your friend again someday. Hopefully, I haven't broken you in the same way that I broke her."_

"_No, you've broken me harder, because I've been in love with you since we were kids and you just…" He shook his head, "Go ahead. You can leave, now. I won't beg you anymore. I won't ask anything else of you."_

_._

"The next thing I heard from, well about him was that he had called him mom and asked her if he needed to come back home, would he be able to. He told her that we broke up and he wasn't sure if he could make it. He said later on that he was talking about the rent, and that makes sense, but when he said that he didn't know if he could make it, she went over there to check on him and he'd taken a bunch of pills, drank all of the alcohol that we had in the place and collapsed. He says he didn't do it on purpose, but Char… I'd never seen him so upset, and I knew that I did that, AGAIN, to somebody that I was supposed to love. I wanted to hurt myself, at that point. I was alone and it was my fault and I decided that I would never in my life let anybody get that close to me again. "I don;t want a relationship," became the first words that I said to any interested parties. I picked my specialty and worked on my degree and enjoyed myself as much as I could, grateful that whenever I reached out to Jasper, he cautiously began speaking to me again, and not surprised that I couldn't contact you, at all. Neither could he, at that point."

"Yeah, I cut him off when he told me that you two were together. He said it apologetically, but I was still bothered. We hadn't been apart long enough, to me. But… so… do you think that Jasper really would have _tried _to hurt himself?"

"I hope not. I wanna believe that he wouldn't, but I don't know. It was a really bad night for him."

"Couldn't wait until after the anniversary or not waste his time _before?"_

"I didn't even realize that it had been the anniversary, or even consider it to be an anniversary."

"When did you finally take accountability? Because, it just sounds like you apologized and Jasper forgave you, like he always does. But, did you ever actually say, "These are all the ways that I fucked up and I notice this and I hate this. I know that I can't take it back, but I will never do anything like this again, to any human being, ever?"

"I unpack this in therapy."

"You're… You're in therapy?"

"Don't you think I need it?"

"Definitely, I just didn't know that you were in it."

"That little results, huh?"

"You're definitely different than the dude that I punched in the face. I just hadn't figured out if it were an act or not, until now." He looked hopeful, like he was waiting on something. She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders, "I guess, I believe that you've changed. I mean, I don't know that I'll ever consider you a friend again, but I can acknowledge that you seem to be a better person now."

"That's great! Can I hug you?" He asked. She hestitated and he said, "Sorry, that's stupid."

"No, it's just that I'm still pretty sore."

"Oh. I can be gentle with you?" She tentatively held her arms open and he eagerly, but slowly and gently took her into a hug and sat there for a while. It had been so long, but scents and sensations that he thought had died with time immediately were revived and he could recall so many moments of touching her before. "I've missed you every single day that we've been apart," he whispered.

She pulled away and stood up. "I'd better go get ready for the day, for Jasper…"

He nodded, "I'll start cooking." She hurried away, flustered by his words and the close proximity of him, but not wanting to admit that. He knew it, though. There was no way that type of electricity had been one sided. He unlocked a drawer on his nightstand and opened it to look at a box that matched the room, and had her name scripted across the top and dressed with flowers. He opened it and looked at a stack of letters that he had written her… He had promised himself that if he ever got a chance to see her again, he'd give this to her… but… She was with Jasper. If she was with anyone else… And… he didn't even know how he felt about Jasper. Well, he DID know. But, this must be his atonement, having to see the two of them together and happy in love, knowing that both of them had some feeling for him, whether or not they'd admit it, and experiencing everyone ignoring those, because the moral to the story was not to hurt people the way that he had, because the hurt would come back, tenfold. He slammed the box and the drawer and locked it back, right as he heard the doorbell. Henry got up and shuffled to the door, but Charlotte was there, already, peeking through the peep hole, with her little boy shorts peeking out of the bottom of Jasper's shirt. She said, "It's him," and opened the door.

Jasper came in, picked her up into a hug and kissed her. She laughed and squeezed him. Henry tried not to point out that they had seen each other YESTERDAY, because, they had. But, also, he knew that Jasper was feeling guilty when he last saw her and that she had just learned about an ugly part of his past that he obviously couldn't talk to her about. So… he just smiled and said, "Hopefully, you're hungry. I'm gonna cook."

Jasper nodded, "Cool! Hopefully, I can still stay over? I brought clothes."

"Yeah! Of course. I'll love having both of you…. NOT HAVING! But… both of you sleeping over. Your room is untouched."

"Your room?" Charlotte asked. "You got a room here? Which one is it?"

"The one that looks like a ship, but no… I was just gonna sleep in Charlotte's room, if that's okay?" He looked down at her, "You've got a room too. The one that you stayed in last night."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Like.. that room was MADE for me?" They nodded. "What? Why?"

"Just in case you ever came back," Henry said and smiled, softly. "Make yourselves comfortable and I shall be of service."

Jasper smiled fondly at Henry and Charlotte felt a ping of jealousy, but then a bigger ping of guilt. How could she be jealous, when she'd just melted against Henry's muscles like heated chocolate fondue? She just silently prayed that the camera wasn't focused on her face… either of those moments.


	9. Just Trying to Figure it All Out

_I have been struggling super hard and super long with trying to wrap this chapter up and lo and behold, I decided to just move forward and hope that it communicates what i was trying to communicate. I know it's a long chapter, but I just couldn't mentally wrestle with it anymore. Might have wound up changing it completely and I worked too hard to do that to myself. Hopefully, we're still having a good time, here._

**Just Trying to Figure it All Out**

Music was playing through the sound system as Henry cooked, Jasper set the table and readied the room. Charlotte had went to get washed up and dressed. The guys were talking about general stuff like the menu and how the night went for Charlotte (which, technically, they had gotten back so late that it was practically the next day) and she slept well into the afternoon, almost evening. Now, Henry was making a gourmet Italian meal, Jasper was making the place extremely comfortable, and Charlotte was staring at herself in the mirror, wondering if she was doing too much.

She had an espresso colored evening gown on with spaghetti straps and had pulled her hair up and decked it with flowers. The gown hugged her body, was satin and shiny and made her look like she was dipped in chocolate syrup, meanwhile, the cocoa butter on her skin had her beaming.

Upon further review of this bedroom, she probably should have guessed that it had been created for her. The bedding was silk sheets and pillow cases (numerous pillows), with a layer of blankets - a super fluffy one with a weighted one on top, then a cute, thin one with a floral pattern. The room smelled of rosemary, eucalyptus, lemon, patchouli, and ylang ylang. She'd thrown some rose and chamomile into her diffuser and together with whatever he had making scents - the room smelled like perfection. Plus, she adored the number of plants in there. She wanted to be a plant mom, but never had the time. All of these were plants that she loved (at least the aesthetic and scents of). Plus… she noticed when she went to grab her luggage from the closet.. he had a jar of gummy bears on the dresser by the door and a little tent card that read "Organic and Fresh," in his own handwriting.

She grabbed a handful of them, helped herself to more Bang Bang Bubbly, and came out of the room, nervously. She paused and heard the guys laughing together. She peeked in and saw them playfully fighting over the cheese grater. Jasper was wrapped around Henry, who held the grater just out of his reach and pushed him backwards with his hips. It was very… intimate. Charlotte stepped into the room and made a small sigh of a noise that sorta sounded like a little whimper, just for attention.

Henry and Jasper both turned to look at her and they froze, still wrapped up in the wrestle, but completely distracted, now. They whispered, "Fuuuuuuck," when they saw her and separated to stare. She sauntered in with her hands clasped together, kinda nervously. She didn't know where her eyes should be, so she kept them on her fingers. She still felt the two pairs that were stuck on her. Henry's mouth was wide open and Jasper licked his lips. "You look gooooood," Henry managed to break the silence.

She blushed and looked at the ground, "My bruises are showing. I can't look that good."

"You will ALWAYS look that good!" Jasper said and came to her, gathering her for a kiss. Now, Henry looked at the ground, and set down the cheese grater. He folded his arms and leaned against the counter as Jasper led Charlotte to the table to help her settle in her seat. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm full of Bubbly," she said and shrugged her shoulders.

Jasper squatted next to her chair and asked, "What can I get you to drink?"

"Just water, please?"

He kissed her shoulder and said, "Coming right up. God, you're gorgeous!" He tapped her chin with his fingertips and went to get the water. She traced circles on the table and Henry came with a bucket of ice with a bottle of wine in it and sat down. Jasper returned with water and pointed out, "I've put the fresh fruit platter right in front of you, so that you don't have to reach for it." She smiled brightly. Her man knew what to do, like all of the time. She smiled sadly. "**I wanna tell Jasper that I pressured Henry into telling me about what happened between them. But, we're all at peace and everyone's having a good time, so I don't wanna do it at dinner. I wanna do it when we're alone.. Then again, what if Henry were to mention it at dinner and it looks like I was keeping it from him? At this point, I'm so stressed out, but I also don't want to ruin the time that we're spending together. So… I just shut up and hope that it didn't come up."**

The song _Been to the Moon_ that Charlotte was singing the night that Henry went to the lounge began to play and Charlotte, with a mouth full of fruit, said, "Oooh! I love this song!"

"Yeah, I love it too, now. I wish that I had it in your voice," Henry said, opening the wine. She waved a hand at him, feigning flattery. "It was the only song I remembered you sang that night, because the lyrics were pretty moving… and appropriate." She blushed. That _almost _sounded like a declaration of love. She didn't need that, not after that hug earlier. She wanted for Henry to pipe down. In fact, whatever she entered the room with he and Jasper doing… "**Henry is confusing me. I can't tell what he wants, and I know it shouldn't matter, but for some reason, I'm preoccupied with it. Does he want to take Jasper away from me? Does he want to take me from Jasper? Does he just… wanna come between the two of us so that we can be alone or available to him?" *Bites her lip and looks both worried but really adorable too.***

"I was thinking that after dinner, maybe we could hang out and watch movies, unless you two just wanna be alone," Henry suggested. He knew that he was much too eager to spend time with them, but he wanted to get as much of it as he could while nobody was mad or sad because of him.

"Sounds good to me," Charlotte said. "I honestly can't feel my feet or my face, so it's not much that I can do anyway."

"After about 3 days of Bang Bang Bubbly, I usually have my acupuncturist come over. Then, I sleep for hours and wake up unscathed," Henry said. "That stuff changed my life. I'll have her come in for you," He began to send a message from his phone. "She'll be here Wednesday morning to see you." He smiled and set his phone down. "So! I feel like I didn't get around to talking about things in the steam room, talking about everything, I mean. I didn't really feel like I got everything out in the open that you both needed and I can't really stand for you two not to have whatever you need out of me."

Charlotte looked at Jasper, to see if he was going to say something. He was more interested in his plate. Charlotte placed her fork down and nodded her head, "Well… I want to say something. I wanted to tell Jasper about earlier." Jasper paused when she said his name. "I have to tell you something. So, earlier, before you got here, I was kinda naughty…" His eyes narrowed in confusion and he tilted his head. "I used Henry's desperation to get me to be nice to him to find out about what happened between the two of you, once and for all." Now, as the look of realization set in, one of sadness flooded over him as well.

"And, what do you think of me now?"

"I think that you were in such a terrible place for 2 years of your life, and maybe if I hadn't been so salty, I could've been the friend that you needed, to see you through that. What happened was a mess and you... had to have been sad, longer than before you broke up. You had to have noticed things. We always do, whether we want to or not. I'm sorry that you were treated that way." She moved her chair closer to him, cupped his face and rubbed his cheeks with her thumbs. Henry watched them in what was literally the worst pain that he could recall feeling in his heart.

Jasper placed his larger hands over Charlotte's and asked, "That doesn't make you wanna leave me? That I was so weak and stupid? I avoided telling you, because anybody that I've told, if I was interested in them, they felt like there were things unresolved between Henry and I and they didn't want me. That's why I've been afraid to tell you."

"Don't be afraid. I have your back, forever Jasper. If we don't last, I'm never gonna hurt you, okay? Forever and for always, I'm gonna be your friend and want what's best for you." He pressed his forehead to hers and just rested there for a moment.

Jasper eventually broke the contact and noticed Henry, watching them with his hands clasped on top of the table. He didn't comment on Henry's blend of emotions. Instead, focused the conversation on Charlotte, "So… Your dad stopped by last night. He was really worried and shoved right passed me to search the apartment and see if you were home. I told him that you were at Henry's, and he thought that I was lying. He was like, "The only person that she wants to talk to less than me is him!" Like, did he stop by here? I don't know if he knows where Henry lives, but I didn't know that he knew where I lived, so I don't know."

"I've spoken to him, since then. I didn't tell him where Henry lives, but I told him that I would stop by to see him after I was feeling better."

Bringing on the Heartbreak by Def Leppard came on the playlist and the three all went completely apesh*t. Using utensils as microphones and instruments, a lot of unnecessary headbanging and hairography, but it was SUCH a classic and they were old enough to enjoy it and understand it and admit to appreciating the genre, even though they once called it "old people music." Well… Charlotte and Henry hadn't been too fond of it back in their day. Jasper would tell them that they were bad at appreciating good music. He was very much into to kind of stuff that his dad liked, mainly because he wasn't really given many options of his own. He kinda had to listen to whatever his folks played and his dad was all about the hard rock and rock ballads, while his mom listened to some Irish folk music and weird instrumentals that Charlotte was always sure were made simply for vibrations to match drug usage. They never talked about it much, but they were relatively certain that she had some history with it.

When they sat back down, Charlotte was ready to sing more, now. She had Henry show her how his music system worked and she was getting ready to browse, but George Michaels began to play and she laughed and asked, "What IS it with you and these old songs?"

"I spend most of my social time around old people!" He said.

"This is actually a great song, though," She said swaying to Careless Whisper.

"All of his songs are great," Henry corrected her.

"Booty Bear, come dance with me!" Charlotte said. Jasper was staring thoughtfully into his empty plate and blinked when he heard her request.

"I'm kinda stuffed. Maybe Henry can dance with you," he said. Something was wrong with him, but she didn't know if she should ask him now or wait until they were alone, so she and Henry started to dance to _Careless Whisper_, singing along and breaking contact for saxophone portions that Charlotte couldn't contain her movements to a slow dance for. _One More Try_ came on next and now, Jasper jumped up and she smiled, about to ask him if he was gonna dance with her now, but he took the remote and turned it off. His hands were shaking a little, but he forced a smile. "Sorry. I didn't wanna hear that one." _Lips of an Angel _by _Hinder _came on and Jasper set the remote down and went to clear his plate from the table, "I'll get it, Jasp," Henry offered and went to him. He touched the small of his back and asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just… it's bad memories, is all." He smiled a little and Charlotte watched them, listening to this song and she would never admit that she felt a way. She felt like she was watching a music video. "_My girlfriend's in the next room, sometimes I wish she was you. I guess we never really moved on…" _Jasper and Henry hugged and then Henry cleared the table and told them they could get comfortable in his room. Charlotte met Jasper, asked, "What just happened?"

"I… That George Michael's song One More Try… That's the last song thing that I could remember before I passed out. It just brought some things up."

"And Henry was able to comfort you?"

"No. I mean, he gave me a hug, but that was nothing…" _*****_**Charlotte singing* **_**And I never want to say goodbye, but (god) you make it hard to be faithful. With the lips of an angel… **_**Is THAT something that you wanna hear in the background of your man hugging his ex that he was in love with most of his life, and then find out that what made him sad that night was thinking about the night that they broke up? Because, I was shook.**

Henry threw everything into the dishwasher and went into his bedroom. Charlotte had grabbed the fluffy blanket from her room and was snuggled in it in the bed when he came in. "Where's Jasper?"

"Washing his feet."

"Wash… what?"

"You know how smelly they can get! He's gonna wash them and put some of the oil blend I made him for foot odor. Lavender, lemon, peppermint & tea tree… in case you're about to unleash something dank from those canvas sneaks."

"Nope. My essential oils game is STRONG. You smell that blend in your room? Daddy did that on his own!"

"Did… did.. you just refer to yourself as "Daddy?"

"I did and I hate that I did."

"I hate that you had Lips of an Angel playing and hugging my boyfriend,' she said, unable to hold that inside for much longer.

"Oh. It's just on that particular playlist. It's not like I planned it that way."

"So, you had no idea that George Michael's _One More Try_ was playing the night that he almost died?"

"WHAT? I was just now years old when I heard this! Is… Is he okay?" Henry honestly looked upset.

"I think so. I just… Are you still in love with him?" She asked. She could tell from Henry's facial expression and hesitation what the answer was, but he didn't get a chance to actually answer her.

Jasper came in, slightly damp, wearing a belly shirt, shorts and socks. "Decided to just take a whole shower. Hen… you need any foot oil?"

"No! My feet smell good!" Henry cheered, grateful for that rescue.

"This bed is extremely comfortable," Charlotte said, sliding over for Jasper. He simply smiled and got closer to her while Henry grabbed the remote for the projector. He'd turned his bedroom into somewhat of a home theater. He had a movie screen on the wall that the bed faced, instead of a TV and projected any movie that he had access to on his computer onto the screen.

"How's horror sound?" He wondered.

"I'm for it," Jasper quickly answered.

Charlotte cringed, "Why not something sci-fi or fantasy?"

"What do _you_ wanna watch?"Henry asked.

She took his remote and he simply laughed and laid down next to her. "I guess you're in charge."

"Nothing new," Jasper said. "I don't run anything in our home."

"That's a lie!" Charlotte said, browsing her movie options.

"Lemme guess… he's the boss in the bedroom." Jasper blushed as Charlotte's face said it all. "I knew it. Everybody thinks he's sweet and innocent when he's really a sexual force to be reckoned with."

"I can't even speak half the time when he's done with me," she admitted, finally selecting something. "Forget having me wrapped around his finger. He's got me wrapped around his third leg."

"Stahp!" Jasper insisted, smiling so hard his face hurt.

Henry's eyes trailed the length of Jasper and for a moment, he thought about being wrapped around him. They made eye contact and Jasper's expression questioned him. He turned towards the screen and grabbed one of the pillows to hug against himself. Charlotte set down the remote and said, "Jasper, full disclosure, I told Henry what you were upset about tonight." Jasper's smile faded.

"**I just don't understand why Charlotte is dragging me through so many emotions on this night. Like, on the one hand, I see that she's just trying to be open and honest and I DO value that, so much. She's the most genuine person I've ever dated and everything that she does comes from a place of integrity and concern. But, right now, I just wanna, chill and not think about anymore of my pain, and she just keeps… coming back to it."**

"I don't wanna talk about that, Char."

"The Bang Bang Bubbly may be affecting her inhibitions."

"No," she said and shook her head. "I just don't want to let anything go unchecked and I have some things that made my list at dinner. I've already asked Henry about that Hinder song, but I should tell you, I felt some kind of way watching the two of you interact while that song was on."

"We were just talking," Jasper said, with a tight smile. "No need to be jealous. You know that nothing is happening here, with the history that we have."

"The history matters. Even I sometimes can look at Henry and forget for a moment that we had the worst breakup that I have ever had in my life, and I had an ex give me back an anniversary present on my birthday and dump me at the same time."

"Whoa, what? To… Basically all of that?" Henry asked.

She ignored him and told Jasper, "I understand it if sometimes you feel confused."

"I gave myself 2 years to get over him for the 2 years that I gave into him and I'm confident that I met my deadline," Jasper said. "I'm very good at doing things that I put my mind to."

"I know, but… You didn't give him 2 years, though. You always loved him. What if it takes the rest of you life and that never goes away? What if you're in a state of settling right now? You know, you can't live your best life by limiting your intentions."

Jasper picked up the remote and began browsing, "Guess we're not gonna have our tears of joy wedding moment, at this rate," he said sourly. (This had become their little inside joke), but Henry coughed on air or spit.

"You… two are getting married?"

"No. I mean, I don't know…" Jasper said. "It's an ongoing little joke we have, sort of."

Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows and asked Henry, "Why, would that make you feel some kind of way?" Jasper nervously tapped his foot, wanting her to cut this out.

Henry squeezed the pillow far tighter than necessary and shrugged his shoulders, trying to answer calmly. "Well, I am human, so sure. Of course, it would make me feel some kind of way. I have very deep histories with both of you and seeing you together already stirs a lot of things up. But, I would be happy for you, like I'm happy for you now. You both deserve each other. There's not two people alive more deserving of love than the two that loved me more than I ever deserved."

"Would you look at that! I found a fantasy movie," Jasper said and flung the remote, then laid back.

Charlotte felt like she should probably stop talking. Jasper was visibly bothered by what she was saying and clearly just wanted her to shut up and watch the movie. But, she couldn't! "I'm glad that the three of us are here tonight and everything's out in the open. I asked you about how you would feel, because I've been noticing some things and I have to say something about it."

"Okay?" Henry said, realizing that was directed at him. Jasper sighed and pursed his lips together.

"You and Jasper might not realize it, but you've been looking at each other. You seem to have these unspoken conversations and maybe me now knowing what happened between you will make those make more sense, but I feel like… I don't know… Like the two of you didn't get a chance to be what you could've been and that now that you're a better person, Jasper definitely sees it and is curious about how it would go with this version of you… I'm… intimidated by it and I don't want to be…" She shook her head. "**It was like none of the words that I imagined could come out. Because, then the possibility might become more real. I don't wanna be like my mom. I don't wanna be like Jasper. I don't wanna get played for a fool. I don't want to be in the middle of something that was bound to happen and think that I was important when I was really just a placeholder. I don't wanna be on TV crying as somebody I trusted flips on me, because they just couldn't stand to not have this one thing."**

"I'd never do that to you," Jasper said, reading her mind.

"I don't think you'd purposefully do anything. I think that you were in love with somebody since you were a kid, and…"

"And it failed, miserably!"

"Because, he hadn't evolved enough to be ready for you."

"It sounds like you're shoving me onto Henry and you just told me like five minutes ago that you're not gonna hurt me. I'm feeling dangerously close to being hurt, right now."

"That feeling might be fear! I just want you to think about it. My parents moved really fast and moved on their feelings and wound up married and with child before they even paused to see if they LIKED each other, as people. Turned out that they did not. I want me and you, Jasper, to always like each other. We've done really well for the past year and I just want us to always be great together, even if it's not together…"

Jasper gasped and covered his mouth, "Are you breaking up with me?"

"I'm… extending to you some freedom to explore and figure out what you want, kinda how you did for Henry, but hopefully, with more respect between us. I just want you to be sure that you're not missing out on anything."

"But, we're still together?"

"Yes."

"You just want the door open, in case I want something with Henry?"

"I don't necessarily want the door open, but feel like I would be more comfortable putting it out there right now that if something happens between you and Henry, I understand and I'll let you figure out what that means for you."

"Okay. Thanks for that. Ummm…" Jasper now avoided even looking in Henry's direction. He didn't want to know what he thought about what Charlotte said. He didn't even know what he thought about it, himself.

"**I really put my foot in my mouth, and that is not something that I normally do, so I'll just go ahead and blame it on the Bubbly, which I have 2 more days of taking to go."**

Charlotte got up out of the bed and walked out of the room. "Where are you going?" Both men asked her. She shook her head and kept going. _They probably think I'm stupid or crazy right now and I don't blame them. _Jasper told Henry, "Please, stop encouraging her to ask or talk about us. If anybody should be talking to her about us, it should be me."

"Okay, but I thought you wanted me and her to work on us."

"Not if it means she's thinking I need myself a side of Henry!"

"A side of Henry could do you some good!"

"Shut the fuck up, Henry," Jasper said and went after Charlotte. Henry followed. She just needed some breathing room, but Jasper's emotions had been all over the place and he didn't want to let her out of his sight. "Char? Where are you going?"

"I haven't been to the Man Cave," she said.

"Well, I'm sure that's fine with Henry," he said and looked back at him. Henry nodded and passed her to lead them to the elevator.

.

They made their way into the Man Cave. It was set up similar to the way it used to be, but Charlotte immediately noticed new tech and a different tone of the Cave. She went to explore, since they weren't being filmed while there, and while she was, Henry tried to talk to Jasper, "Just so you know, she's probably just medicated and loopy. I'm not gonna pay that any mind. I know that you've only got eyes for her."

Jasper rolled his eyes and sighed, "And I know that you still want her."

"If you know that, why did you let her stay here, by herself with me? I mean, even with feeling guilty about what happened, I would think that you wouldn't trust me not to… Try…" Henry scoffed. "You thought that I was gonna try to come on to her! Did you even actually wanna see us try to mend things, or did you just set things up to see if I was gonna try to snake my way back to her?"

"Both," Jasper said and shrugged his shoulders. In the background, Charlotte was getting excited about various additions to the place that they all used to spend most of their time.

"Wow. So, did you even forgive me, or did you say that so that I could let my guard down and open myself up?"

"I forgave you a long time ago. Forgiving doesn't necessarily mean forgetting and I know that you want what I have."

"I want what both of you have!" Henry hissed, then covered his face. "Yeah, yeah, I do still want her… but I want you too. I know that's not possible and I know that's one sides… or two sided, I guess… But, that's my feelings. I have to live with those and I've resigned myself to it. I guess I just have to try harder for you to be comfortable enough to know that I'm bigger than my feelings, now. I'm bigger than my wants…" They both realized that the room was quiet and turned to see Charlotte, staring at them, holding something in her hand. Henry stepped back from Jasper and went over to her. "Hey, you're finding all kinda stuff."

"Yeah. What did I miss?" She asked (about he and Jasper's little exchange).

"Just that you don't have to worry about Jasper and I rekindling anything," he smiled, but it was sad. It was that old smile that he used to give her whenever he lost a battle and didn't want to talk about it, but didn't want her to worry, either. She always used to worry. But, this time, she just felt bad for him.

"I could take it. I've actually been in mutually agreed open relationships before, and I've identified as poly for the past few years…"

Henry's eyebrows shot up, "Really? You were… involved in a polyamorous relationship, or you simply realized that you lean towards such arrangements?"

"A little of both. It began with one of my open relationships' friends. We got along a lot better than they did, but they were far more sexually compatible, so while they were seeing each other, myself and this other person began dating, of course, everyone was in communication about it. My partner felt a little weird about it at first, as he was the person who introduced us and saw him as "his," but couldn't deny that he saw the chemistry and didn't want to obstruct our openness. It was the only time one of us fell for the other's side interest, but that had never been a rule not to."

"So, you've been in a relationship before… with two guys?" Henry asked, a little more encouraged than a few minutes ago.

"I have. It was difficult and didn't last, because sometimes whenever you have more than a couple of people, especially if one or more isn't used to the openness and honesty and sharing… Sometimes the dynamics can be confusing. Those days whenever you don't really want to be bothered, so they go on without you, and you still feel slighted, even though if you were only with one person and you didn't want to be bothered, you'd appreciate them respecting that. Whenever you measure up things, whether intensional or not and realize that the sex drive or sexual attraction for some of the others might be different in a way that makes you insecure… I mean… There's a lot of reasons that relationship didn't last."

"Did you remove yourself from it?" He asked.

"No. I was broken up with by my original partner and when that happened, his side interest broke things off with him. He said that he came into a packaged arrangement and he didn't want to be just with one of us. Of course, my ex said that he didn't mind that they kept things open, but he just wasn't interested in continuing to see me, on his end. I wasn't interested in that. I was new to discovering myself and it seemed messy. None of the other stuff seemed messy, just like… you know, relationship work. But, when it got to where I couldn't figure out what the purpose of the work would be, I definitely dipped. Long story short, I can handle Jasper exploring you without feeling discarded, and in the event that I'm not meant for a longer journey, I can accept that shit with grace."

Whenever she brought the subject back to Jasper, Henry sighed, "He's not interested."

"That's a lie."

"He's not interested in trying, and I respect that… Wait… Jasper was giving me a morality test, is that what you're doing right now? Is this the part where I find out that contrary to my previous belief that seeing the two of you in love was my sentencing, it's actually having both of you play multiple games to see if my heart is in the right place?"

She furrowed her eyebrows and turned up her nose, "I'd sooner not even deal with you at all. I don't have time for games. I'm a broke ass genius. I'd use game playing energy to get a real job. What does this thing do?" she changed the subject, now, to the contraption in her hands.

"**I can't say that they are in it together, but I feel like it's a coincidence that Jasper was testing me and she takes that time to openly announce that she's fine with us trying a thing, and then she had that pretty convincing story of her experience with a polyamorous relationship with two men, a relationship that didn't work out. If you've already failed at a similar relationship, then why would you be open to another?"**

"**It boggles my mind that he would wonder that, because that is precisely how relationships work. Most of us don't have a relationship with the same person for our entire dating span. So, to think that polyamorous people would just give up when their first try doesn't work out is… Does he ACTUALLY have those credentials? Because, I don't know if I'd go to therapy with somebody who says the things that he says about relationships, not even for sexual advice… Though, maybe he's only good at speaking about that aspect, and not the emotional. He could have just said that he and Jasper are too afraid to try out their emotions with me in the picture and kept it moving."**

The spa-hospital-sleeping-waking up etc schedule had thrown everyone's body off a little bit. So that they were all still awake whenever it was time for the sun to come up. "We need to get to the roof. We won't be able to see it anywhere else," Jasper told Charlotte.

"You can see it from the balcony," Henry said. Jasper remembered just as brightly as it was yesterday how Henry had snapped at him for interrupting sunrise for him before, and flinched at the thought. But, Henry took his hand and pulled him towards the balcony. He glanced at Charlotte, to see if this was okay and she followed, without much of a reaction on her face. They leaned against the bar and watched in complete silence. Jasper was in the middle, with Charlotte and Henry on either side of him.

Charlotte and Henry usually both watched the sun come up, but Jasper was having an emotional moment - because Charlotte had never withheld this time from him, yet Henry had. Today, they were both here with him and not only was Henry no longer withholding this moment from him, but Charlotte was here, as well. It was perfect and he was overcome. They didn't know what he was thinking, but damn if he wasn't gorgeous in the growing light of the sun. Charlotte had never noticed before; she was usually quite engaged with the view of the earth being brought into a new day. Henry hadn't turned from said view since Char had left. But this day, both of them were staring at Jasper and he was a vision to behold.

They caught a glimpse of each other, staring lovingly at the man in between them and silently agreed not to bother each other about the fixation that they gladly returned to after that acknowledgement. At the same time, unplanned, they each moved a hand to the small of his back and their fingers accidentally brushed together. Both of them moved their hands to a different spot on his back and he collected them into each of his arms. "This is the warmest that the sunrise has felt in a while," Henry said and snuggled in closer. Charlotte slid her hand beneath the back of Jasper's crop top to stroke his skin more intimately.

"Yeah, it's a perfect day," Jasper agreed. He turned to smile at Charlotte, first and kiss her on the forehead, then leaned his head against Henry's shoulder.

Henry had to water his plants after that, and talk to them. Charlotte offered to help, wanting to spend time with his herb garden, but he preferred to walk her through it, so they did that first and Jasper just hung around, amazed that Henry was finally so open with him and these areas of his life. Suddenly, Charlotte's offer didn't seem so… scary. Then again, the difference was that Charlotte was here. Yeah, he and Henry had made up and been nice to each other since their breakup and even during plant time, when Jasper interrupted, Henry was cordial about it. But, here, with Charlotte, that made a difference in how loving Henry was. Henry had admitted that he wanted both of them, to Jasper. So, of course, it made sense that he was standing way too close and unnecessarily touching her to show her how to care for the plants, but Jasper still didn't trust this. He still felt a little bit jealous, though he was also kinda gushy about it.

Henry and Charlotte were a beautiful couple. He'd thought about them together, years ago. He'd thought about if he had been with her instead, would they have lasted and would she have dated Henry later. He thought about the three of them together… But, that was before the issues. That could never be a thing now. Although… She brought up the idea of he and Henry exploring. He could bring up the idea of the three of them.. And always play it off like he was trying to show her how ridiculous her idea sounded, if she didn't seem into it. He decided that he would do that! But… this wasn't the right time, was it? "You two are getting dirty. Might have to have a shower party soon!" He said, then immediately regretted it.

"What's a shower party?" Henry asked. Charlotte had just looked at him like people looked at his 11th toe.

"I think he was making a joke about us taking a shower together."

"Dude. You're gonna make it weird. We're having a nice morning," Henry said. He and Charlotte laughed and she returned to the herbs. But, Henry stared at Jasper. He looked nervous and unsure of himself. Like, he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how. "You okay there, Buddy?" Henry wondered.

"Why not the three of us?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, boy," Charlotte said.

"I mean… why just me and Henry? There's definitely something there between the two of you too. I guess I don't understand why you think he's good enough or changed enough for me to make attempts, but not for you."

"It's got nothing to do with that at all."

"She's insecure and just wants to be sure. You know, like how you set me up to try to get her by leaving her here with me? You two are playing the same damn game, Jasper."

"I've already discussed that I'm not playing any games. You're the master game player, so I know that you would know, but I assure you, if I was playing games, you wouldn't be smart enough to peep it," she said. She and Henry began fussing at each other, for the first time since they began speaking again and Jasper felt like he might have a panic attack.

Look at what he'd done! Henry tried to do something nice and take care of Char in this bright and beautiful space, and Jasper mistrusted him. Char tried to open up a chance for him to resolve any of his past, with perfect trust and no judgement and he'd shot her down. Now, he had them arguing again, and they were doing so well, since last night! He sniffled and both of them heard it, even through their loud voices.

He couldn't hear their words of concern and affirmation through the sound of his heartbeat in his ears, but he could tell that they were both more concerned with seeing about him than with arguing with each other, unlike his parents, which sometimes, arguments made him think of… especially if he felt like it was his fault.

Charlotte stepped back and let Henry try to reach out to Jasper, cupping his face and trying to make eye contact with him. "Jasper, we're sorry. We didn't mean to start arguing, okay? It's just banter, a little bickering, like old times. Remember when we used to do this? You'd just drown us out most of the time. It was no big deal. We're good. We're good. You're okay. It wasn't your fault, and nothing bad happened." Jasper stared at him and it was like he'd finally realized where he was. "Heyyyy," Henry said. Jasper fell onto him and hugged him. Charlotte rubbed his back and she and Henry exchanged guilty glances.

She suggested, "Since our sleep schedules are messed up, we might as well try to stay awake until tonight and get back on a regular rotation. You wanna go home?"

"You can stay!" Henry said. "I'll make myself scarce. I mean, I'll hang out in my room or down here or something. You two relax."

"I'm fine," Jasper said and shook Henry off of him. "I just had a moment." He tried to smile. "Got a little headache."

"I've got something for that," Charlotte said and collected him. To Henry, she said, "Thanks for bringing him out."

"I love him too," he said casually, with a shrug of his shoulders.


	10. Laughing Fits and Lucid Dreams

_Even though this is a rated M story with characters in the 27-29 age range, I understand and respect that there are kiddos here and have no intention of writing flat out graphic adult material. I've used a lot of mature language, but have hopefully not gone too far in this chapter, which has numerous dreams and situations that I tried not to make too explicit. Be prepared for a few shockers, but hopefully, the M didn't go into some other higher letter!_

**Laughing Fits and Lucid Dreams**

The movie watching went well. They wound up turning on some horror movies and Charlotte practically clung to Jasper the entire time. He loved that. She was so fearless, but whenever a horror movie was on, she would be worked up and a little bit terrified. Jasper fell to sleep first, probably because the past couple of days he hadn't slept well at all. He had been awake and worried, then the three were awake all night and before the sun even set, he was passed out and draped around Charlotte. She tried to get up a few times, but he clung to her and groaned whenever she attempted. Poor thing. "**I was pretty positive that between Jasper's lack of sleep, my pulling and tugging his emotions in various directions and Henry and I arguing in front of him that he was not only exhausted (which I think is why he had a panic attack), but he was also scared and even in his sleep, his abandonment or rejection issues were flared up. I sent Henry to get my travel box of crystals from my room and I was determined to intercede on Jasper's behalf, so that he'd be able to sleep well."**

Charlotte selected a rainbow moonstone, herkimer diamond and opal aura to set out. Henry didn't mind if Jasper remained in his bed, but he recommended that Charlotte stay too. "If he wakes up in bed with me, and you're not here, I don't know how he'll react to that."

"Like I could get away, anyway. This boy is squeezing me like a python." Jasper snuggled in even closer to her and held more tightly.

Eventually, he did let go. He was asleep and Henry was out fighting crime, so Charlotte went back to the Man Cave to check up on him. Nobody told her she could, but being back in there had stirred something up in her. She went up there to sit at the control panel and see if she still "had it." Spoiler alert, of course she did. No plot twist, though. She was surprised to see Henry return alone. Where the heck was Ray? Asleep? She shook her head.

"You just keep exploring on your own, huh?" Henry asked.

"Who's gonna stop me?" She asked back. He laughed and transformed into his regular clothes. "I started some work while I'm here. Thought about running some stuff past Schwoz, but he's probably asleep."

"Like you should be. I mean, I see that you're dressed for it."

"Well, yeah, but I'm in the middle of something right now," she said and pointed to the screen. He couldn't tell what she was supposedly in the middle of, so he just let her have her way and went to get himself something from the auto snacker.

Henry and Charlotte eventually went back up the elevator and checked on Jasper. He was still completely out. She was in her night clothes while in the Man Cave, so she simply slipped back into Henry's bed with Jasper and he quickly resumed holding her closely, tightly.

Jasper had this cuddle habit. He kinda groped you in his sleep. His hand cuffed her "gens" and his other arm was wrapped gently around her throat. It was a possessive hold that Henry remembered well. He went to get cleaned up and threw on a pair of boxers, stared at himself in the mirror for a while and wondered, was he ready to do this? Should he just grab some covers and take one of the several other beds in the house? Part of him knew that might be best for everybody. That part of him was thoughtful and considerate. It didn't win. He climbed into his own bed and laid down next to Jasper, wrapped an arm around the two of them and felt Charlotte's hand touch his, then intertwined their fingers. He didn't know if that was conscious or not, but was scared that if he questioned it, even in a whisper, it would be too jarring and possibly make it weird. Jasper shifted a little and Henry took a deep breath, cuddled closer to him and let himself fall asleep.

.

_Henry blew a bubble, then went up the tube. Charlotte was doing some interpretive dance in the living room, belly full with child, and music playing, accompanied by ethereal voices, in the background. There was a patch of grass beneath her bare feet, a real patch that he had made room for, for her. Jasper was nearby, playing the bongos with his hands and beatboxing. She wound up at his lap, he pushed the bongos aside and collected her into an embrace and kissed her. Henry backed away, giving them some space, or… maybe he was… getting smaller? He looked at the place, it was getting smaller, and eventually, it was no longer his house, but Jasper's apartment. The grass was gone, the place was cozy and they were perfectly happy without him… And he realized that he'd shrunk so small that he vanished and everything went dark. _

Henry awoke with a start and glanced next to him. Jasper was awake, but cuddling Charlotte, who was asleep. "You okay?" He wondered.

Henry nodded, "Bad dream."

"Bad dream, or honest one? Char's got the good dream crystals out," he said and pointed a thumb. "I mean… they're like in HD, Dude. I had amazing dreams. They didn't all make sense, though. Mostly about… you…" He turned his gaze to Charlotte and rubbed her arms. "And of course, her. Thank God… What were you dreaming about?"

"You… The two of you… Just… like… I don't know… You two have a connection. You've got this beautiful thing going on, and since I've been back in your lives, I've just kinda been making a mess of things. You'd probably be better just forgetting about me."

"No doubt, but it's a little late for that. You said that you love us… You're going to have to tough out whatever that confession will mean for all of us."

"Do you think that it does mean anything for all of us?"  
"I think that I woke up because I heard her say your name in her sleep. I think all three of us are experiencing a lot of feelings."

"That's because I stepped back into the picture. You and Charlotte could be on a patch of grass, expecting a baby, with her dancing a tribute to the moon goddess or something and you playing bongos and beatboxing, but instead, you're sleeping in my bed, and none of us are getting any."

"That was an oddly specific depiction, but add a cat and I'd say fairly accurate," Jasper chuckled. Henry sighed. Jasper pointed to a slip of paper beneath the crystals. "I didn't look to see what she wrote down, but whenever I ask her in the morning, I'll bet it'll be something about the three of us. Come here…" Henry came closer and Jasper shifted to allow Henry to cuddle up with Charlotte. He wanted this SO bad, but she hadn't really made him feel like it was okay. Then again, if she'd said his name in her sleep… Henry wrapped himself around her and moaned out a sigh. He was asleep again in no time.

.

"_Hey, Hen!" Charlotte cheered, come on! You've gotta get in here!" He looked over to where she and Jasper were inside of a photo booth. "When was the last time that we took a photo?" She asked, with a beaming smile and radiant skin. He rushed to get into the photo and they took several. They put their faces together, made silly expressions, shared a few kisses. _

_Jasper cheered, "Win me something!" And Henry rushed to do so. He got him the biggest stuffed animal… though it was a sasquatch. "Yay! Bigfoot comes home with us!" Jasper celebrated as Henry handed him the huge plushy. _

"_You guys wanna get on the ferris wheel?" Henry wondered. They didn't look excited about that. "I'll make it worth it, for both of you…" He told them. Their interests were piqued and they went for it. _

_Whenever the ride first started, Henry's hand began to move up Charlotte's pretty little floral dress. She smiled and looked at Jasper who raised his eyebrows and licked his lips. Charlotte leaned back to slide her pelvis forward and Henry shifted to get on his knees. Jasper simply smiled and set his plushy aside, so that he didn't miss anything. The next circle, it was his turn. But, Henry certainly couldn't pull that off with him in his romper… Actually… Henry could! Jasper protested for a short moment that Henry might rip his "romphim," but was silenced soon enough. As they got off of the ride, Charlotte took one of Henry's hands and one of Jasper's. "Let's go home," she said…_

_._

Charlotte woke up and looked at Henry, wrapped around her and shifted to see Jasper wrapped around him. She grabbed her paper from beneath her crystals and looked at it. "_Please, allow us to see how it could be, if we got out of our own ways and did was what best for everybody. If we forgive, forget and move forward… I would like to see THAT dream…" _She set it back down and went to the bathroom to pee, rub one out and refresh. Henry's bathroom was even extravagant, though most of his things weren't in there. Some necessities were in the cabinets and he had really good toilet paper and a very expensive looking bidet. She'd gotten one of those ones that you attach to the toilet whenever they lived together and kept upgrading it whenever she could over the years, but didn't have a separate and sophisticated basin!

She came back to the two men cuddled up and wondered how Henry wound up in the middle and if that meant that Jasper didn't want her next to him. She had several dreams throughout her sleep, that she could remember very vividly. That last one though… it made the most sense and was the clearest, so she figured maybe that was the dream that she was meant to see.

The previous one wasn't even a current VERSION of her! She looked like she was in college! In fact, she remembered that night that she had dreamed about…

_Charlotte was stressed out, gathering a bunch of books to turn back into the library, dressed as a complete nerd, barely able to stay on her feet, with huge goggles atop her head and a messy bun in her hair, with poofy tendrils traveling away from her. As soon as she dropped the books into the deposit, she took a deep breath. She made it! She could go celebrate tonight! She stepped into the place, hair done, and transformed for a few hours into a little vixen, still kinda awkward, but in a delicious little package that reminded Jasper of a golden candy wrapper. He stared at her and she made eye contact with him, then smiled shyly and turned away. She went to find a seat, so that she could size up the room - figure out where the exits were in case of emergency, figure out where her vantage point would be for getting in and out of the bathroom, where she would most likely be more visible, or preferably, most likely not to.. And two guys came up to the table, simultaneously. One, the one that she'd seen earlier had asked if she wanted to dance. The other, a tall blond, asked her if he could buy her a drink. The two men turned to look at each other, challengingly, but then they look each other up and down, rushed towards each other and immediately began kissing. She had found it. The perfect seat._

That wasn't _exactly _how it had happened in real life. She had gone out, gotten hit on by about a dozen old men, and went home drunk and depressed, remembering that she had been dumped by her ex and in turn lost her other ex, and she did more drinking when she got home. The dream was a nice little reimagining.

She wondered what THEY were dreaming about, but shoved her way into the middle of them. They barely resisted her doing so and after she managed to squeeze in between them, both were facing her and laid hands or arms on her in some way or another. That was more like it. Who did they think they were, putting HER on the outside? But, now that she was in the middle with them groping and rested on her. Damn… she'd forgotten how sore she still was… and NOW, she was being poked at by TWO peckers. "Ugh. Good going, Charlotte," she whispered to herself.

.

_Jasper was on the dance floor, twerking. Charlotte, at the bar in a tailored suit and a hat dipped low over her eye. Feelgood walked into the place and several patrons paused to see if that was actually him, or if some person was simply going around dressed like him. He came up to the bar and immediately noticed the tiny stud checking him out. She told the bartender, "His drink's on me," then, she took a sip of hers, touching the liquid with her tongue, before her lips. He smiled at her and moved closer to thank her, but she put a single finger up to his lips to quiet him, even though she hadn't glanced at him again since her initial power move. She was watching something, or rather, someone. He turned to see him, a sweaty, beautiful disaster. He understood completely why she didn't want to be disturbed. _

_After a while, the woman beckoned the dancing man with the curve of a perfectly manicured finger, her pinky, glistening with a pink diamond. He came over and she gathered him to herself by the buttcheeks, slapped him across one and kissed him on the ear, "Got you a present, Babe." She turned him to face Mr. Feelgood. _

_Jasper cheered, "I'm such a fan!"_

_Feelgood said, "I've only seen you for five minutes, and I'm a fan, now, as well." Jasper blushed. _

_The woman pressed close to Feelgood, beckoned him down to her, like she'd just done Jasper and he had no choice but to lean closer to her, because she had just commanded it. What was he supposed to do? Deny her? Their faces were joined at the nose and she said, softly, "You'd better not hurt him, or I'll hurt you. Thank you for your service," and planted a slow and painful kiss on his lips. The rest of it was a blur of body parts, touching, kissing, the flash of her camera…_

Jasper woke up grinding against Charlotte and quickly stopped himself. These dreams were becoming a problem! But, Charlotte was back next to him and facing Henry… Actually, she was laying against Henry's chest and his fingers were tangled up in her curls. Jasper moved in closer to her and rested his head in her curls and cuffed her to himself, without taking her off of Henry's chest, because he didn't wanna _disturb _her. But, he was also painfully aware of what that last dream had done inside of his shorts. He should probably deal with that? Naw, it'd go away in a while if he ignored it. Whenever it went down, he went back to had a filthy, raunchy dream about them.

_It was mostly him speaking very aggressively to Henry and ordering him around, making an object of him and dominating him to serve he and Charlotte. To pleasure them at his command, and cleaning them up. But, with Charlotte, he was not only gentle, but docile, speaking to her as though she were a goddess that he was worshipping through these acts. She was divinity and Henry was a sacrifice. Something that he owned and was offering to her. And Henry was willing to be that to him, to her, for him, for them. But, she explained to him that Henry needed to be pleased and cleaned up to, and asked him nicely if he was willing to do that, for her. Of course, he was. And she collected both of them to her bosom and held their heads in her hands, stroking their hair. _

The situation in his shorts woke him up. _UGH! I knew I should have taken care of this! _He got up and went into the bathroom and just decided to take a cold shower, since he needed to clean himself up, anyway. He'd read that cold showers curbed libido and apparently, all of his dreams would be lascivious cesspools tonight. His daydream in the shower though was anything but. It was them going home together from an amusement park. Charlotte had honeycombs from the rooftop beehives that Henry put there specifically for her and she made them snacks of cheese, edible flowers, fruit, and those honeycombs. She gave the cat some homemade pate that she did herself. She played thunderstorm sounds accompanied by music, and lit candles all over. They talked for a while, laughing about nothing and everything, then kissed, then touched, then… Maybe his daydreams were tainted too. Maybe… this itch just needed to be scratched! Maybe… If they just did this, did _it… _Everything could just continue on and they didn't have to think about it this hard anymore. Maybe, he was just hoping for a good excuse to climb back into that bed naked and just let or orchestrate something to happen! This cold shower was VERY uncomfortable and not the LEAST BIT helpful! He turned off the water and shivered as he dried off. Then realized/remembered that his shorts were in no condition to be put back on. He was going to get the towel and go get more, but whenever he was picking them up off of the floor, he heard the bathroom door open and he quickly turned and faced Henry, whose eyes went wide and directly to...well… the jewels. He turned away and covered his face, "Sorry, Dude. I'll go use another bathroom," Henry said.

"No, I was just about to go!" Jasper said and wrapped himself in a towel and rushed out, forgetting his shorts. Henry was going to tell him that he had, but when he picked them up, they were still… not wet, but clearly they'd been recently… altered. He chuckled to himself and flung them into his laundry hamper, disturbed that he had been tempted to give them a whiff.

Whenever he finished using the bathroom and washing his face, he went back to the bedroom and Jasper and Charlotte were gone. Jasper had either woke her up to leave, or had picked her up and carried her out. Henry didn't want to bother them, but he did want Jasper to know that it was okay and he wasn't going to do anything because of what he'd seen. He went to check in Charlotte's room and heard the two of them giggling. The door was cracked, so he peeked in and saw Jasper, releasing his towel and getting in bed, on top of her. He left, but he knew that there was no way that he could go to sleep now. He went back into his room and collected her stones and set them and her paper outside of her bedroom before going back into his own and locking the door. He turned down his lights, opened a bottle of wine from the bedroom wine cooler in his closet, and decided to do a late night wine workout, a bit of wine, a bit of workout to blow off some of his energy, then meditate and finish the wine and then, he might go back to sleep and just hide out in here until those two left… He heard a knock on the door and rolled his eyes. They must've left something.

He opened the door and Char was in a thin little robe and Jasper was in a pair of boxers. "Yeah?"

"Sorry we took off. We had to handle something. Can we come back?" Charlotte asked.

"Not if you're bringing those damn crystals. I didn't get ANY sleep!" Henry complained, but he was really glad that they came back and got out of the way of the door to let them in. Jasper wouldn't look at him, so he stepped in front of him to make him at least reflexively do so. Jasper and he were face to face and Charlotte laughed, "Now kiss!" She said, playfully. Jasper leaned his head back, but then gave Henry a quick smack on the lips and sidestepped him to go back to the bed. Henry lips his lips. They tasted like Char. He smiled and blushed and asked, "Does anybody want a bottle of inexpensive wine?"

"I'll take one."

"I'll take a couple," Jasper said. Henry handed Charlotte a bottle and handed Jasper one white, one red.

"Hey… if you two lived here, what kinda stuff would you like to add or take away to or from the house?" Henry asked.

They began talking at the same time and Henry, after years of this, even though it had been a while, managed to hear every single word that they both said. _A patch of indoor grass for yoga and meditation, rooftop beekeeping, a colossal sasquatch plushie… _"Hey, wait… I had a dream that I won you one of those! I thought I made that up in my head. Are there colossal sasquatch plushies somewhere?"

"You won ME one?" Jasper asked in excitement.

"Yeah! We went on the ferris wheel and I went down on both of you," Henry said, laughing.

"Oh!" Jasper didn't know how else to reply. "Just throwing it out there, I guess."

"Well, it's obviously Char's fault, because she's the one who brought in the sex dream crystals."

"I brought in crystals for dream clarity and recall. Nobody told you to think of going down on people on a ferris wheel. Don't put this on those crystals."

"I'm putting it on you!" Henry said. "You wore a chocolate skin tight dress all day, and a silky short set to bed, especting somebody to have decent thoughts."

"ESPECTING?" Jasper repeated, laughing. "How much wine have YOU had?"

"How much jizz did you have in your shorts when I found you naked in my bathroom?" Henry asked.

"WHOA!" Charlotte said and her eyes widened. "You didn't tell me that Henry saw you naked! Is… that why you needed a late night fix?"

"I needed that before the Henry incident. I took a shower, I wasn't wrapped in a towel, and he came in to use the bathroom. I promptly covered myself and left."

"And came to get me for a quickie," Charlotte said.

"Which I needed BEFORE the cold shower I'd just taken, that didn't work."

"Relax. I barely saw anything. All I saw was his butt bent over and like 2.5 seconds of dingle. Are you shaving now?"

"I try to keep things orderly," Jasper said.

"Good job."

"Show us your stuff," Charlotte said to Henry.

"Do what now?" Yeah, huh?" Henry and Jasper replied.

"He saw our dick and we should see his," Charlotte said.

"Our?" Henry said. "You… You gotta… I don't remember seeing YOUR…"

She grabbed a handful of Jasper's and confirmed, "This is OURS. Show us YOURS."

"Ours is… awakened," Jasper said quietly. She didn't let go. Henry looked at Jasper, wondering if this was an honest request or demand. Jasper knew what his look meant. "I do believe that she means it," he said.

Henry laughed and stood up, "Fine. Okay…" He pulled down his pajama bottoms and reached for his boxers, "I mean… it's just private parts under these. No… not any…"

"SHOW US YOUR DICK!"

"OKAY!" Henry pulled his boxers down and Charlotte screamed and laughed. "Wow. You are a mean lady," he said and pulled his shorts back up.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I just can't believe you listened to me!" She laughed onto Jasper's chest. Jasper hadn't laughed. He'd looked right at it and it didn't seem to be a laughing matter to him. "Nice landscaping. Is it flames?"

"It's supposed to be a tulip," Henry said, looking into his shorts. "I couldn't do a daisy, but I'm definitely practicing."

"It's nice," Jasper said, softly.

"Yeah, Jasper's jumped at the sight of it!"

"You can't drink anymore around Henry," Jasper said and took her practically empty wine bottle. She gave him a threatening look, but he just kissed her on the nose and said, "So, I guess you're not showing us anything?"

"You both know what it looks like," she said.

"Henry doesn't. I doubt that you had the same thing going on when you two were together."

"You're right, I didn't," she said and smiled. But didn't make any move to show anybody anything. Instead, she said, "So, Hen. I have a Bermuda Triangle piercing…" he gasped. "I get a Brazilian wax, front to back, but leave a patch of hair at the mons pubis, and it's trimmed like an arrow pointing down, and above the arrow is a little Adinkra power of love symbol tattoo. My stuff is too much for your eyes to handle. You can't even handle the description."

All he said was, "I don't know what kinda tattoo you mean. I think you need to show me so I won't be ignorant."

"Google it," she said and laughed.

"How hot is it, Jasp?"

"Super hot. I mean, all of her is, but it's like… unf." Henry undressed and Jasper and Charlotte watched, speechless.

He got naked and said, "I'm going to bed like this. This is how I like to sleep and this is how I'm gonna sleep."

Charlotte said, "Aight, I'm head out…" And she and Jasper cackled, but she didn't head out.

Henry got up and asked, "Any more wine for anybody else?"

"You don't think you've have enough, huh?" Jasper wondered. Henry came out with three bottles and passed them around. Charlotte set hers aside and Jasper opened his.

"I'm going to sleep, so that I can get up and see the sunrise in a few hours. You two have fun. Be safe," she said.

"We're not doing anything without you," Henry said, opening the bottle. She fought a smile. "This is a… triad. So, sweet dreams," he said and kissed her on the forehead… Like he wasn't stark naked.

"You… too…" She said and laid down. He dimmed the lights a little more and Jasper climbed under the covers and removed his shorts, as well. But, he was gonna finish this bottle and go to sleep. He didn't know if he was trying to watch the sunrise. But, he hoped to at least get some sleep. Henry locked the door back, just in case Ray, Schwoz, or worse, PIPER, came through the place. He'd have a hell of a time explaining any of this. He was just figuring out himself what he wanted and needed.


	11. Power of 3

**Power of 3**

Charlotte had taken the bubbly for three days and was now awaiting the acupuncturist. Jasper and Henry had went for their gym visit and would be having brunch afterwards. She didn't want to insert herself into their ritual just because of the recent turn of events… Being that they spent 3 nights together, watched 3 sunrises, 3 dinners, went to the same bed 3 times, woke up tied around each other, and she couldn't stop thinking about the power of 3… That anything done in threes is more satisfying, more powerful, more memorable…

Maybe it was the Biblical implications programmed into most of the Western world - the Holy Trinity, a three days rest until resurrection, etc. But, even in Pagan belief systems, 3 held power. Many witches believed that whatever energy you put out in the world, you get it back three times. Three had been significant for her as a child, with having Henry and Jasper. The three, in her mind were a three. There was no coupling. There weren't separate pairs. She honestly couldn't imagine them separating when they got older… But, then there was that talk with her mom and life in general and now… she was looking back at her life and looking forward to her future. Henry had called them a triad.

HENRY had said that they weren't going to do anything without her. Henry had taken a huge step in making these claims. She said claims, because who knew what could happen while the men were alone? They were both very sexually magnetic for each other and emotionally attached, forever. Jasper had once told her that they had the nastiest, naughtiest, most daring sexual relationship that he had ever been involved in. Sometimes, they didn't make it to privacy before they commenced. Sometimes, they were in an alleyway, a public bathroom, the vehicle, an elevator… He said it like he was condemning himself for the risky behavior, but his eyes said something else.

Charlotte wasn't into those types of risks. She liked the roughness that he mentioned (sometimes), and really thought it would be fun and interesting for Jasper to use her the way that he'd been allowed to use Henry whenever they were doing it. But, he said that was mostly because Henry liked it so much. To be called dirty names and degraded and manhandled… He couldn't imagine himself doing that with Charlotte, even if she begged him. She was just so tiny and soft. He sometimes worried that he might hurt her whenever he got too excited!

She loved whenever Jasper got rough. She could tell it was closer to his element, and even though he held back a lot, she felt that she could tolerate more. It was hot to feel and see him in his sexual nature. Him holding back usually made her insecure. If he felt like he had to hold back with her, 1. WTH was he doing in the first place? Donkey punching folks? 2. Could she keep him satisfied? She thought about talking to Henry about it, because he was a professional, but he also probably couldn't be objective. So, she would have to find some other method or tough it out.

After her acupuncture, she grabbed some sleeping supplies, because Henry had recommended the Bang Bang for three days, an acupuncture appointment, and a long sleep. Jasper had cleaned up the clutter that she made in her bedroom, because she needed clear space to sleep well, but she hated cleaning up and Jasper knew that and probably that she might not feel like it anyway, with the healing in progress. Sweet soul, Jasper. She lit her deep sleep candles, turned on the music loop of the siren song from Siren, shut the drapes to blot out the sunlight, set out her choice of crystals on the headboard, sprayed her bed with a sleeping mist blend, rubbed her feet with lavender, and laid her naked body down under the fuzzy blanket, with the weighted blanket on top. She was sleeping within moments. She stayed sleep for hours.

.

Jasper and Henry peeked in on her whenever they got in. Henry wondered, "What in the world is she listening to?"

"It's from some show, I think. We have to let it play, because even if you adjust the volume, she will wake up immediately."  
Henry laughed. "Some things don't change. You know what it used to be? This weird remix of FKA Twigs Two Weeks with like…"

"With meditation music? I made that for her." Jasper said.

"You did what, now?" Henry laughed.

"I made that remix for her! You know, I can make music. I was in a band, and I did beatboxing and yodeling competitions… Not together… except for that one time that I got it in my mind that could work!" He threw Henry a glare and Henry laughed. "That was terribly embarrassing for me, despite the fact that I handled it with grace."

"You absolutely did not," Henry reminded him, thinking about how much of a train wreck that was.

"We remember it differently," Jasper said and quietly shut the door to Charlotte's room back. "I think I might need to go get her some more clothes and stuff. She didn't say whether or not she was ready to come home, and let's be honest - that bed is a lot more comfortable than mine. She'll probably want to crash here instead, since you're good now."

"Since we're good?" Henry laughed. "That's what we're calling what this is?"

"What… _should _we call it?"

"I'm in love with two people that I very much want to build a life with. Whatever is mine is theirs. We aren't just "good," I love you two, and I want to take care of you, in any way that I can." Henry said.

Jasper nodded, "Well… You can talk to her about that. I'm gonna run home and get some clothes and stuff… and also beer, since your fridge refuses to have any. I've gotta go to work tonight. Should probably get some sleep today."

Henry sighed and his nostrils slightly flared at Jasper brushing off everything that he said, but he realized that the burden of proving self was on him and he couldn't be mad that Jasper wasn't taking him seriously or that he was guarding his heart, whichever. "Well, I have work appointments this afternoon, so I'll be in the office most of the time. Make yourselves comfortable, but be mindful that the living room is also a segway to my office."

"Noted. See you later," Jasper said and headed out.

"**It's been a few months since I began speaking on a regular basis with Jasper and Charlotte and, at this point, all I want to do is be able to be honest with both of them and build together. Most of the secrets are out. Jasper knows that I want something real with both of them. Charlotte knows what happened between Jasper and I, after her. I know that both of them have some type of feelings for me, as well. What I don't know is if either of them want to explore those and what I don't want is for them to take any time away from each other to figure that out. I want the three of us to reach an understanding and an agreement, or I don't want anything. Nothing else, as far as relationships are concerned, in my current state of mind - nothing but the three of us in a committed and dedicated relationship will appease me." *Sighs and holds up a stack of letters, tied together. "Then… There's these…" **

**.**

_Henry was exhausted. He and Ray had been tracking this villain for days and when they did find him, he was stuck in the lair and it took them hours to get free. Charlotte had been searching for them, using Henry's phone to try to figure out where they were. She had been losing sleep for days and was working for four - because Jasper wasn't very much help, worrying about Henry and Ray, but having no real helpful skills for the situation. Piper was in the loop by then, but also way more famous and not in town. Captain Man and Kid Danger were missing. Ray's phone was dead. Henry's had some life, but she had to sync it with the Man Cave computer to try to lock in on the location before it died too. The computer automatically pulled up an on screen menu, which were previews of various apps and photos. She was focused really hard on working, so she didn't pay any attention to any of it, but did, in the back of her head note - Henry sure has a lot of porn on his phone. Jeesh. _

_She was able to lock in on their location and Schwoz and Jasper went to try to bring aid. By the time they all came back, and she was relieved, and settled, she'd also realized something… some of this "porn" wasn't porn. It was private messaging. _

_She had never in her life thought to go through Henry's phone or spy on him. All she had to do was tap the preview on the screen to see that was a video of Bianca. She folded her arms and said, "Huh," pensievely, then backed up his phone to a clone and went on a journey._

_The journey began with a group chat - Chloe, Biana, and Henry, which seemed to be a place to shit on Charlotte, but that wouldn't even have bothered her nearly as much if she hadn't eventually gotten to the photos, then the videos, then the invitations. All of the offers of blowjobs and threesomes, and the playful way Henry would entertain it was troubling… but, then Henry began to talk too. About what he could just imagine. About how he would think about this or that whenever he was alone, to get himself excited. Accepting an invtitation to record their sex tape (which got "leaked" later on and was a huge scandal - 2 Girls from the Woods, Playing in Each Other's Bushes!) And… the last one that he'd sent… "Know that threesome you're always on about?" and a series of emoji's that she wasn't sure exactly what he meant by them, but it was safe to presume that he was down. _

_She left the Man Cave and went home, started packing her things, and didn't even get adequate rest. _

"_Hey, where'd Char go?" he asked Jasper? _

"_I think she left," he said._

"_Without me?" Henry wondered. That was weird, because they lived together, and they had been apart for days, while he was on this incredibly dangerous mission and had almost died several times. "Did something happen?"_

"_I don't know," Jasper said. "I got back whenever you did. I saw her looking through somebody's phone when she got on the elevator."_

"_What phone?" Henry was still confused._

"_Probably one of the clones," Schwoz said. "Looks like we're missing one."_

"_The clones?"_

"_Yes. You take someone's mobile cellular phone and you clone all of the information into this phone. It is a phone clone, on which you can access all of the information from the original device."_

"_Oh, maybe she cloned your phone for some reason. She was using the computer to try to locate you two through it," Jasper said, casually. He was ready to head home himself. Now that Henry and Ray were safe, he could use some shut eye. "Goodnight, Hen! Glad that we could help." He got onto the elevator and Henry went to the tubes. _

_He came in while Charlotte was packing. She had hooked up the phone/computer to the TV and let the messages just scroll for him. He took a deep breath. "Shit," he said. He found her packing and immediately began talking in a pleading voice, "I promise, I didn't mean it. We were only joking around. It was innocent fun."_

"_Innocent? Thinking about other girls while you're with me is innocent? And, I'M not having fun."She began to slam things into her bag. _

"_Okay. I said a lot of things in those messages that I shouldn't have, but I swear that I never would've acted on any of that!"_

"_So, you didn't record their sex tape for them? You didn't agree to a threesome with them?"_

"_I… recorded their sex tape VERY objectively and I was only joking about the threesome."_

"_Nobody jokes that frequently. But, you know what. I won't let my poor dicksucking skills or uppity requirements deter you any further from your passions. Have all the big tittied white girls that you can get your hands on." She then muttered, "Chloe's aren't even real, but I'M Charlotte Flat as a Page."_

"_I told her not to call you that!"_

"_Yep, with an LOL, so she knew you meant it," she said, trying not to cry. "I don't care if you complain about my 'bee stings.' These are the breasts that my body grew and they're the ones that I'm satisfied with."_

"_I wasn't complaining."_

"_Titty fucking is really awkward with itty bitty titties sounds like a complaint, but even if it's simply an observation, I don't remember requesting a titty fuck. I COULD HAVE TOLD YOU it'd be awkward, as I am aware of my cup size. I don't care about you talking about how seldom I go down on you - which YOU KNOW is because I want to make sure that everything is clean and good first and I won't apologize for that. Do you know what kinds of things I see at the clinic? I have standards. You can meet them, or I won't consent. Tell the world, if you wanna. And the fact that when I DO go down on you, it's clear that I have no idea what I'm doing? I do have an idea, but I'm not a professional, because you haven't met my requirements enough for me to get proper practice. What did you think I'd do? Practice on toys and tools? Bananas? Lollipops? Popsicles? Fine. Tell whoever you need to in order to feel better about your lazy hygiene and the consequence of not receiving pleasure. But, when you tell another woman that you'll think of her, that's crossing a line that I don't have to accept. When you're talking to other women every night about what you would do to them if I wasn't in the picture, that's basically you confirming that you wish that you could do things to them. I know where this road leads to and I can't believe that I let you waste my time before I realized what fucking road I'm on." _

"_Okay… Okay… Look… You don't have to accept it. I was so fucking wrong for all of that, but Baby, I SWEAR to you, I've never touched another woman since you."_

"_Maybe you oughtta. You wouldn't be so unsatisfied!"_

"_I don't want to be with anybody else!"_

"_THAT'S NOT WHAT THE FUCK YOU SAID A GAJILLION TIMES IN THOSE MESSAGES!" She pointed towards the TV in the other room, screaming louder than she even thought that she knew how to, but he was pissing her off and he STILL hadn't just fucking apologized. "I was so fucking wrong for that" is not remorse! You made me look fucking stupid in front of AT LEAST two other women and you can't even tell me that you're sorry for that. You're just trying to tell me how it isn't as bad as I think it is, but I can fucking tell from this conversation that you don't even know why I'm really mad. You don't even KNOW what you did that was so wrong!"_

"_I mentally cheated?" He said, trying to guess._

"_You cheated. I don't put qualifiers on that… but you…" Now, she was crying, "You knew that was the ONE thing that I wouldn't be okay with. You knew how upset I was whenever my dad finally stopped pretending with my mom and ran around this fucking town most of our relationship with different women while my mom looked like a fool and you did that to me?"_

"_I wasn't… I never intended for… I'm sorry." He started crying. "I am so sorry. That's not what I was trying to do. You don't look stupid. I do. I have the most perfect woman in the world and I fucked up, and I don't deserve anything from you. But… Please… Please, let me at least…"_

"_Let me stop you. There is nothing you can say or do that would make me even want to see your face again, Henry. That is a true statement and I am a stubborn person. Thank you for apologizing. I believe you. Now, get the fuck out of my face and stay out of it."_

_He covered his face and sat on the bed. "I can't. We've been friends almost our whole lives."_

"_That didn't stop you for betraying me in the way that you of all people should have known was irreparable."_

"_It didn't stop me from being stupid and reckless, no. But, I didn't think of this as too bad. Your dad was actually fucking other women. I'm not completely convinced, by their interactions that your dad and my mom didn't screw."_

"_They definitely did. Why else are our parents never around each other?"_

"_But, in my brain, because it was just some talk and some photos… that's nothing to me. It meant nothing to me. If I was as disgruntled about scarcely given blow jobs that aren't that good when I get them, I would have gone out and gotten better ones…" She glared at him. He wasn't helping. "I just mean that I never did that, because even though I was venting, I knew that I actually HAD the best part of all of this. Good blow jobs, I could give up. Frequent blow jobs, I could live without. Baby, whenever Ray and I were held captive, all I thought about was getting home to you. Seeing your face and holding you close to me and looking into your eyes again." He sobbed. "Whenever I face danger, you're the constant on my mind that I want to get back to. You're my beacon…"_

"_Weird. Because, when you're out there, I can't think about anything else either. But, unlike you, when you're safe and sound, I STILL DON'T FUCKING WANT ANYBODY ELSE!And if I did - if I EVER did, I'd respect you enough to let you know where you stand. Or… I would have, before tonight. Honestly, Henry, at this point, you could've died tonight, I'd be relieved right now."_

_He held his chest. "How can you say that?" He shook his head, "You don't mean that. I hurt you really bad and you're angry. You don't mean that." _

_She rolled her eyes and grabbed her bags. "Fuck you, Henry." She headed towards the door and Henry got up and chased after her. That was not going to be how they ended things. That would not be the last thing that she said to him, especially following the previous thing… He grabbed her arm, harder than he intended and more angrily than he realized that he was feeling, and for a split second he almost questioned himself - how did he feel like he had a right to be angry? Why was he grabbing her? He should probably give her space? But, he didn't really get to process all of that because whenever he grabbed her, she dropped her bags and by the time he'd looked at his hand clutching her arm aggressively and wondering how that was his hand… Her fist connected with his jaw. He felt it and heard it and the sound was kind of terrifying, but the pain shot through his entire head and he let go of her hand and stumbled back. "DON'T YOU EVER PUT YOUR FUCKING HANDS ON ME!" She screamed at him, but her hand was done for. She could hardly move it. _

_She didn't know what came over her in that moment, but she grabbed her bags and left and slammed the door. When she got into her car, she just sat there and cried. She cried for hours before she was able to even think about starting the car. She didn't know what Henry was doing in there, but whenever she finally started her car and winced every time she moved her hand, she whimpered, "Call Piper."_

"_Hey! Jasper told me that you found Henry and Ray!" She said, cheerfully. "I was almost back in town, too!"_

"_Are… you en route?" Charlotte asked, trying to use a clear and casual voice. _

"_Hey… Why do you sound terrible?"_

"_Henry and I just got into a really bad fight. I don't know where to go. If I go to my mom's like this, she'll call my dad for an excuse to see him and I'm a little banged up. They'd never believe that it didn't get physical."_

"_Why are you banged up?" Piper asked, suspiciously. _

"_Henry grabbed my arm and I just… I punched him… I think I sprained my wrist or something when I did. I didn't expect to be physically in pain, too…"_

"_What… Happened?"_

"_I found out that Henry's been talking to other girls about sex with them. I can't forgive him."_

"_Okay. Meet me at my parents in like… 20 minutes?"_

"_Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call his sister, but I didn't know who else would still actually care about me.."_

"_I'm glad that you know it's me, if nobody else. On my way."_

_Henry was staring out of the window. He had ice on his face and knew he should probably get to Schwoz right away, but he could see Charlotte in the car crying and he was helpless at the sight of it. He did that to her. Why the fuck had he done that to her? _

_His phone was charging and he'd snatched everything from the TV and posted himself by the window until she pulled away. She didn't even look at the apartment. He heard his phone buzz and he saw it was Piper. _

_Normally, he'd let it go, with something this huge happening, but he was fresh off of a several day mission and needed to at least touch base with her. "Yeah," he answered._

"_What did you do, you freaking idiot?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Charlotte hurt her wrist punching you in the face for no good reason? Charlotte Page?"_

"_I…"_

"_Did you cheat on her, Henry?"_

"_I never would have touched them. I swear to God. It was just talk. It was just to blow off steam. I promise. She… She says that she never wants to look at me again. Can… Can you fix it?"_

_Piper sighed. Henry was always super soft when it came to Charlotte and she was often a good go between, but the way that Charlotte sounded? "I don't know. Expect things to be over. She sounded _really _bad. I'll make sure that she's okay. No matter what happens between the two of you." _

_Tears were falling from his eyes. "Thank you, Piper."_

_Henry angrily demolished a shitload of his things before realizing that he was 1. Destroying his things and 2. He would have to clean this up, eventually. He just needed to rest, probably. He needed to sleep off the mission and the fight and probably after that, he could collect his thoughts well enough to beg her to listen and to spend the rest of his life, if he had to, making this up to her and proving himself to her. _

_He grabbed his phone and recorded himself speaking, "Charlotte… I am so sorry. I should have led with that. I should have said that I'm sorry and I'm an idiot for what I did and for not realizing how bad it was. I'll never do anything like that again, I promise. I'll never give you any reason not to trust me again, so long as I live. You're the only one that I want and wanna be with. I don't think that I could ever make it without you." He went to sleep after that. He was drained._

_Whenever he got up, he checked his phone. Ray, Schwoz, Jasper and Piper had all called him. Chloe had texted. Mom and Piper had messaged him on social media. Nothing from Charlotte, though. He tried to call her, to leave her a voicemail message, basically, saying everything that he had said on his voice note the previous night. The phone number claimed to be disconnected. He tossed his phone aside and began to clean up the wreckage from his tantrum. He was eventually disturbed when a loud banging knock sounded on the door, followed by Jasper's voice, "HENRY! CHARLOTTE! Are you guys okay? I'm gonna break the door down if nobody answers me! 1, 2, …" Henry opened the door and Jasper let out first, a sigh of relief, then - a gasp of horror. "What happened to your face?"_

_Henry had sort of forgotten that he'd gotten hit. He was so distracted by the depression, physical pain ceased to exist for a bit. "What do you want?" He asked. Jasper looked confused by his tone and this whole situation, in particular. "WHAT IS IT?" Henry demanded, annoyed by just the flicker of waiting for Jasper to answer him._

"_We couldn't get in touch with you. We were worried that maybe goons were sent in retaliation. You almost died less than 24 hours ago… were missing for several hours before that… You have responsibilities and haven't been answering any calls. What is happening, right now? Where is Charlotte?" Jasper tried to come into the apartment, but Henry placed a hand up to stop him. "Henry. What is it? Oh my God! Is she dead? Did someone attack here? HENRY, ANSWER ME, WHAT THE FUCK?" _

"_She left me," Henry said, in a low voice. He blinked away some tears. "It was my fault. She's gone, and I don't want to talk about it…" He sniffled, nodded his head, and repeated, "It was my fault." He started crying a little harder and Jasper took him into a hug. He tried to shift away from it. He didn't feel like he deserved to be comforted, but Jasper was a strong mothefucker and bigger than him. He wasn't letting him go. He was gonna take this solace._

_Henry spent hours trying to write Charlotte a letter. By that time, the others had tried to find her, too, but her parents and Piper told them to just give her some space. She'd left her Man Cave duties, but emailed Ray after she saw the doctor about her hand. She'd fractured it and would need to wear a cast over the hand, wrist and pinky for 6 weeks and resigned immediately to accept an opportunity for an integrated and applied sciences doctorate program across the country. She thanked him and apologized for the sudden departure, and sent a video message to Schwoz, thanking him for all of his time and energy spent helping to make her a better scientist and being a good boss and good friend. She met up with Jasper and asked him to collect the rest of her things for her, then treated him to a buffet, but wouldn't talk about what happened between her and Henry. She told him that if he promised not to give it to him, she'd let him have her new number and maybe when she was ready to start talking about it, he'd be one of the few people whose number she kept._

_Henry had no access, so he wrote to her. He had to get his orange overlays, record the message from voice to text and then try to copy it with his handwriting. It took him a long time to write each letter, but he was committed to it. He thought, maybe if she saw that he did this, she would change her mind and forgive him. Maybe if she read his words, in his handwriting, and deduced what he had to go through to write this much… she'd believe him. But, she never saw him or them. She never knew. They didn't talk. She didn't visit. Jasper, Piper and Schwoz had some access to her, but were told that if that was shared with Henry, they'd lose it. So, he settled for hearing new things - she got a teaching position at an organization, she was in a serious relationship, she was out of the serious relationship, she was moving overseas, she was back in the US… But… he had a feeling that even they weren't getting the good details. Maybe Piper, but Piper wasn't easily moved by his plight. This was his fault, after all. Still… he continued to write her a letter, every day…_

"**467 days ****1.2794 Years = 1 Year, 3 Months, 1 Week, 3 Days, 16 Hours, 19 Minutes and 59 Seconds****... That was how long I spent writing Charlotte every single day since she left me. I only stopped whenever it was my first "anniversary" with Jasper and I realized that I, maybe, had been involved with Jasper for a year, but also that I had been nurturing an obsession over someone who I'd hurt and lost. For some reason, up until then, somewhere inside of me, I thought that it wasn't over. That she was just still upset, like I was still upset about making the mistake. For everybody else, a year had passed, more than a year. But, for me… It was almost like it had just occurred to me that she actually broke up with me and that we were done. It had just occurred to me that I had been in a new relationship for a full year." *Shakes his head, "Sometimes, I feel like this shit had to have happened to someone else. Like, who WAS I? Whoever he was, I'm glad he's dead."**

**.**

Jasper came back and went to bed in Charlotte's room. She was still sleeping and he knew that he needed to get some sleep before it was time for him to go to work. He hadn't been in a few nights and was a bit worried about having to leave Charlotte alone to go in, but also… They were all three in a similar place. He woke up a couple of hours before he'd have to be to work (because he needed to shower, get dressed, eat, all that jazz. Charlotte was still asleep. He checked to make sure that she was alive. She was…

He went into his own room to get ready. He didn't want to wake her up, and whenever he came out, Henry was in the dining room, staring at a stack of letters, tied together. "Hey. What's that?"

"Remember when we were first dating, how I used to write those letters everyday?"

"The apology letters to Charlotte?" Jasper said. "How could I forget. I always felt 'othered' in the beginning, and those letters were a huge part of that… Is… Is that what those are? Because… it's been a really long time and I don't think that's normal, to hold on to."

"It's not normal. But, also… everything that she's currently curious about and everything that she feels like she has the right to know is in these, and they're in their truest form. I could dress up all this information with my 20/20 hindsight, but… She deserved to know then and she deserves to know now. I just… wanted to talk to you about it. If you don't want her to have them, I will burn them tonight."

"I don't think that it's fair of you to put this on me. If I say no, I run the risk of getting in the way of something that might bring Charlotte closure. If I say yes, it's read like I agree that you should give them to her! And to be honest, these letters were stressful for me, the first time around, so to even bring them to me is at least disrespectful!"

"I'm not trying to come between you two. I want to bring the three of us together. I thought maybe that you would want to know what emotions were blocking your love from my view back then, too." He picked up the stack of letters and came over to Jasper, "These are as much for you as they are for her." He pushed them forward and Jasper accepted them and shook his head. "It's… the last thing that might get in the way… of… us…" Henry said, desperately.

"Yeah, okay." Jasper sighed and put them into his messenger bag. "I want to talk to her about it before anything else and she's still asleep."

"Okay." Henry nodded his head. "Well, I've got stuff to make sushi, caviar and champagne, if you want me to make you dinner before you go."

"Ummm… Yeah.. I was gonna just grab a burger or something."

"Oh, NO! I just got this shipment in and have been ACHING to try out some new recipes and arrangements on someone! Burger. The only burgers that you'll ever need to eat are the ones that I cook. Oh! I can cook you a burger, if you want?"  
"I don't think that's…"

"I've got thawed ground beef… Yeah. I'll make you one of the best burgers that you've ever had in your life! But… also… I do have sushi supplies and caviar… I'm… gonna make a caviar burger recipe that I think I've only made once, a while back…"

Jasper bit his lip and set his bag on the floor. Henry was actually trying and it would be so crushing for him to tell him that he was doing too much. He was, but Jasper was content to try to appreciate it and would tell him some time after the fact, maybe when he wasn't as emotionally high strung that he didn;t have to be this accommodating.

Charlotte smelled food. That was a surefire way to get her to get up, which Jasper should have realized, but wasn't really thinking about. "There she is!" Henry cheered. She made a confused face and kissed Jasper on the top of the head, and played in his hair.

"He's in the zone," Jasper whispered.

"Char, I've got caviar burgers, sushi, and champagne. Glad you could join us before Jasper heads off to work," Henry said, still moving around in the kitchen. Charlotte gave Jasper a thumbs up, then approached Henry. He yelped at her closeness, out of nowhere and then smiled, "Just, have a seat."

"Why, has Daddy got it taken care of?" She asked, teasing him for his calling himself that a few days ago.

He played along. "Daddy does." She shook her head and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. She began to grab stuff and try stuff. "Umm… Char… Daddy's not done." She made moaning sounds and continued. "Charlotte…"

"These are good!" She said, reaching for more.

"Char!" Henry snapped.

"Henry… Please chill out, okay? You're acting all fancy and I'm literally in an oversized shirt, barefooted, eating your caviar with my fingers. Jasper can't even tell you the difference between these fish, much less the caviar. We are impressed. You can calm down." She took another portion of sushi and stuffed it into her mouth. "I've been asleep all day. Hungry. Shoot." Henry furrowed his eyebrows and prepared plates. Charlotte scratched his belly and he looked down at her hand, then up at her face. She wasn't looking at him, so this was an unconscious act. She was looking at the plates and asked, "You gonna put more on mine?"

He narrowed his eyes and pushed a plate in her direction. "Fix your own," he said. She cackled. _Don't mind if I do. _

Whenever she got to the table, Jasper was shyly eating and Henry was still setting up stuff to make his experience optimal. She grabbed three flutes and set the down. "Where's the champagne? I wanna make a toast," she said. Henry smiled and rushed to get it for her and popped the bottle open. When they each had there's, she lifted hers into the air and they followed. "To, the power of three." she said.


	12. Home

**Home**

**"Hi. I know that we can't really discuss the nature of the other work for the show but this confessional seat is pretty much where I've been laying down my burdens so that's what's going to happen today. I think I finally realized something about the workforce. One of the reasons that I haven't been able to stay in the labs, that I haven't been able to put up with a lot of the crap that they expect you to put up with.. I feel like it's mundane and not very direct results. Sure something that I work on right now may help somebody one day, but whenever I work here whatever mark that I did, helped someone THAT day. I was having adventures and making a difference in a pretty regular basis and the entire time, I was simply trying to get a paycheck and also help others. Now, the help that I give others is a slow process and the journey includes pompous, pretentious dudes that insist that they're better, smarter, and more experienced than you, therefore, you don't even always get approved to do the work that you COULD do. When I worked here, my supervisor encouraged me to test things out and he admitted that I'm smarter than him. I've been smarter than everyone that I've ever worked under… but Schwoz is the only person who's ever validated that fact. Whenever I worked here, it was like a family. It was a community. Out in my fields of study, it's always a competition and I'm always clipped at the knees while the big name boys get their headstarts, their funding, their approvals, their awards and recognition… but, I'm a grown woman. I have to decide if I wanna push harder and drain myself just to catch up with them, or stay out of the way. **

**Singing in nightclubs and serving drinks isn't beneath me, but my parents are right about one thing… it isn't what I worked so hard for all of these years. So I could give up on my years of studying and work and just find something that I'm passionate about, or work hard to be the best, even on an unfair playing field.. but in the meantime I will be settling back in here. I just feel so at home…" **

Whenever Captain Man and Mr. Feelgood came down the tubes, Charlotte was in the control panel, with Schwoz behind her, talking. "And if I had access to it, my research would make him look like the 20th century scientific charlatan that he is!"

"I support this!" Schwoz cheered.

Henry leaned over the two of them. "What's going on?"

"Charlotte's going to use my resources to stick it to the Man!" Schwoz said.

Captain Man wondered, "What did I do, now?"

"The industry, Ray. You'd be surprised to learn that even in the scientific community, where everyone is there to further humanity with knowledge, truth and solutions, a lot of them are grossly prejudiced and oppressive," Schwoz said, thinking about his own run ins with American scientists who felt like he knew less because they weren't familiar with his country or his accent.

"I wouldn't be surprised that people who went into the kind of work that was advanced at the violation of numerous enslaved African peoples and their descendants, not to mention several Jewish people and other marginalized groups who have been used as lab rats and sometimes still aren't given viable scientific solutions to their needs," Captain Man said, with a shrug.

Feelgood raised an eyebrow and wondered, "What have YOU been reading?"

Captain Man answered, "This bizarre story about me that for some reason had all of these science facts in it. I didn't really get it, but the photos were GREAT!" Feelgood noticed Charlotte hiding a smile and he just HAD to know more, but needed to blow this bubble first and get comfortable.

When he was Henry again, he beckoned to Ray with a hand, "Alright, Dude. Let me see this story you speak of."

Ray pulled out his phone and showed Henry an archive. It took Henry all of 15 seconds to realize that these were simply scientific and social justice essays that somebody had peppered in numerous photos of "The Most Handsome Man in Swellview EVER" and given titles such as, "_Scientific Racism is an Ugly Part of Our Practices, But Ray Manchester is the Opposite of Ugly." _"This is interesting. It seems like the kind of thing to have a niche market of JUST YOU." Henry told him.

"I follow it," Charlotte and Schwoz both said. Schwoz with a shrug, as thought he OBVIOUSLY would follow such a thing. Charlotte, with a smile, because Henry knew good and damn well that these were _her _words. She added, "Along with Miss Shapen, Nurse Cohort, Mrs. Dunlop, YOUR MOM…" She listed off subscribers. "Piper hate follows to put things in the comments like, "I once saw him fuss with a squirrel and taunt it by saying, 'I've got some nuts for you to choke on!' which, in 3 years' time is still the top comment on any of the posts."

Ray groaned, "I would be insulted, but I got several 'Do you have any nuts for me to choke on?' messages, so Piper lost again." He finished with a smile and headed to the auto snacker for a bucket of fries.

"Why would someone do this?" Henry asked, trying to hand Ray his phone back, but eventually gave up because of the huge size of fries and just stuck it in his pocket.

"Maybe, someone knew that there are certain people who would only be willing to receive information from such a source," Charlotte said.

***Holds up photograph of Ray. "Basically, if you ever want Ray Manchester to pay attention to something, the best way is to put his photo onto it. It started as an experiment, to be honest. I was trying to do a paper on narcissism for a psychology credit, and was using him as a study. But, then, I realized that I could actually get him to LEARN THINGS that I would have had to either accept that he never would or browbeat into him in the past. Now, Ray can recite to you statistics of scientific racism and how the medical field still fails minorities to this day, among other very important topics that his brain might have previously shut out."**

***Ray speaking. "Everything as harmless as poor lighting and unflattering makeup selections while on screen, to things as dangerous as not being able to detect signs of skin cancer in brown skinned patients! Right there, next to my smiling face and luxurious skin!" *Shakes his head. "I can probably trust a makeup artist or a doctor to take care of me, but Charlotte and her really hot mom might not!" *Shakes his head. "This world. It's ugly. But you know who's not? This guy." *Holds up an article with the title: **_**This World, It's Ugly. But You Know Who's Not? This Guy, **_**with a photo of a young Ray in a horse sweater. "I don't know where this person gets all of these photos, (*whispers) but they're all perfect."**

**.**

Jasper and Charlotte had discussed the letters from Henry and she decided that she wasn't sure if she wanted to read them, but told Jasper that if he felt the need to do so, he should. She and Henry were getting along pretty well and she worried that reading things that she had decided to try to move past might damage that and stir up strife and trauma that she wasn't interested in. "**If I were to say that I'm not curious about what Henry had to say for apparently 467 days, that would be an enormous lie. But, I'm also terrified of what finding out some of that might do to us. Jasper thinks that it needs to be done now, while everything is still new and fresh and it can't hurt later. But… It can't hurt later if he just burns them now, either." *Shrugs her shoulders.**

Charlotte still had leave of absence time from the doctor, even though she was fine, thanks to Schwoz. So, whenever Jasper and Henry were away, she was usually making herself pretty much at home and making the space a little more compatible with her. They hadn't talked about moving in together or anything, but… she hadn't left yet and Jasper kept bringing more of their things over with each night that they spent there. She would chill in the Man Cave with Ray and Schwoz, work on her project that Schwoz was helping out with and back him up whenever the heroes got an alert. But, if Jasper was available, she spent her free time with him. And if the three of them were free, they spent that time together. The only times that she was with Henry alone was at night, when Jasper was bartending, on those nights that Swellview didn't need their hero.

That was when the conversation came up again, "Are you ever gonna read them?" He wondered. She tensed up at the question, but blinked shortly afterwards and stared at him. He had been giving her a pedicure (since hers hadn't gotten done at the spa that day) and he still felt bad about that. Plus, he had hella products for that at home. Between the two of them - her holistic healthcare and organic, natural, DIY beauty care, and his high maintenance grooming and wellness… This place was an apothecary, pharmacy, spa, gym… He'd even started making certain that he got handcrafted beers shipped in, since he knew that was what Jasper preferred to drink and he really wanted both of them to kinda… never wanna leave.

"How important is it to you that I read those letters? Are they worth my current peace of mind? Are they worth our current connection?" She asked.

He squeezed her foot affectionately and kissed it, "Nothing is worth that. I just didn't know it NOT reading them would possibly risk that as well, perhaps?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I'm not crazy about change. Things are already in the process of changing, but this change seems good. Do you think that whatever I read there would be a change for the better? Would it improve what is already happening, in any way? Or, do you just want me to have to know what you were going through while I was going through what I was going through, because I refused to grant you that attention whenever I was going through it?" Her foot was rested against his chest and he was stroking it lovingly, absentmindedly. She pulled it away gently and she shrugged his shoulders. "Well, when you can answer me that, I can answer your question. For right now, the answer is that I don't want to do it. I can't see how it would help anything."

"I respect that."

"**I actually hate it." - Henry**

**.**

Jasper got home anywhere from 3-4:30 am, depending on how busy the lounge was or how much cleaning up he had to do. Usually, whenever he got home, Charlotte was asleep. Henry had a habit of waiting up for him. It was hard for him to sleep whenever he didn't know that Jasp was home safe and staying awake made him less tired than interrupted sleep did. Charlotte sometimes slept in her bed, whenever she wanted to be immersed in her sleeping experience, unbothered and Jasper would join her whenever he got home. (His room was currently where he and Charlotte's clean, but not folded laundry and other unpacked stuff was being stored. They lived in her room and visited Henry's as frequently as though it were their own.

His favorite nights were those when Charlotte didn't necessarily want to be alone and slept in his bed. He still waited up for Jasper, but sometimes, she cuddled against him and went to sleep on him while he waited and played video games or watched something. Whenever Jasper would get home, Henry would be ready for bed and Jasper would generally wash up and come into bed, being the one who got to decide their placement for the night. Would he be in the middle? Would Henry? Would Charlotte? Whatever he chose, Henry was always happy, because they were both still there.

Then there were the times that they were all home at night and got to settle into bed together! Rarely did one of the others suggest just going to their own room tonight, if all of them were there. They just went into Hen's like it was the most natural thing in the world for all of them to be in bed together, sleeping and cuddled up - some nights just awake, talking in the candlelight until someone fell to sleep first and the other two gushed over them quietly.

Actually, now that Henry thought about it… he had a different type of favorite night. Those nights whenever he had to leave for a mission before anybody went to bed, or when nobody else was there, and he came home, tired, weary, sore, etc… and they were both waiting for him. Either awake and worried because the mission seemed serious, or asleep in his bed, figuring that they would have been alerted if it had been something to worry about.

Whenever he came home from a night of work and soothed away his pain and problems in a hot shower, knowing that within moments he could lay his head on a pillow or a person that he loved very much… ugh. Priceless.

.

Henry came into the dining room, from sessions in his office, to find Jasper at the table, with his letters, doing something with them. He didn't want to interrupt… But, he appeared to possibly be destroying them and it was reflexive. "What are you doing?" He snapped. Jasper jumped and was clearly startled and taken aback for a moment. Henry noticed, felt terrible, and calmed down. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Softer, he wondered, "What are you doing there?"

Jasper's hands shook a little and he set a letter down in a stack, face down and said with a low voice, "Organizing these for Charlotte."

"What do you mean organizing? They were dated and in order. Did you like drop the stack, or something?"

"No, Henry. I didn't. I thought that you said these belonged to us, now?"

"I did. They do. I'm just curious."

"If you must know, I've separated them into categories. These are angry. These are sad. These are blunt and realistic. These are the ones that are the sweetest. They're going into this scrapbook that I'm making for Charlotte. These other ones are going to be possibly shelved, possibly explored at her convenience. She'll likely want to get into a certain headspace, cleanse them of their energy and ground herself before attempting to look at them. I don't want her triggered whenever she tries to!" His voice got louder as he explained, until he was almost yelling. He rolled his eyes at Henry and began to collect his stuff.

"Where are you going?"

"Where you aren't gonna come fussing at me just because Charlotte's not around."

"That's not what I… Jasper, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like I was fussing. Thank you for doing this. It's so thoughtful and sweet. Charlotte is lucky to have you."

"Yep," Jasper said, angrily and kept going.

"Where is she, anyway?"

"In the Man Cave. Go spin this however you need to."

"I'm not…" Henry rubbed his eyes, frustrated as Jasper went into his room and slammed the door.

"**I can only guess that he recently read Day 273 recently…"**

***Jasper taking deep breaths and clenching the air in front of his face to strengthen and center himself, then clears his throat. "Day 273. Dear Charlotte, I feel like I shouldn't write that I love you anymore. I feel like I maybe should stop this altogether. Jasper and I are getting closer than I expected and it is starting to scare the hell out of me. I found myself wishing that I had you around to talk to about it. I found myself questioning if I was moving on from you and wondering if I should. Jasper is great. He's everything right in the world and he seems to be really into me. I wish that I could love him, but I feel like I'd be betraying you again. Which… That's hella stupid, right? We're fucking. That's betrayal, right? Or, is it okay, because I never really had feelings for him? He told me that he loves me recently. I told him that I love him too. I didn't mean it like that, but I didn't really wanna get into it. I would feel so much better if I thought that I could have your blessing. I know that it hurts him the way that I never quite let him in, but I can't help it. It always feels like he's trying to take your place, but I don't want anybody else to take that place. Not even Jasper. I care about him, but… He's just not you, never will be, and I don't know if I could ever see him the way he wants me to, because I don't know how low that would be of a blow to you. He said that you've cut him out now, too. I guess after 3 months of fucking your ex he felt obliged to share that info with you. I already feel like you probably hate me more. If you didn't feel some type of way about it, you wouldn't have blocked him. You still care! And knowing that, I just… I can't move on. I'm not gonna say that I love you anymore. But, I know that you care.." *Slams down the paper into the "blunt and realistic" stack.**

Henry came to the Man Cave and Charlotte was looking at her phone, and seemingly about to go - wrapping things up with Schwoz. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" He wondered.

She sighed and shook her head, "I'm sorry, Henry. I have to go see about Jasper."

"I figured. I just wanted to say…"

"Say it on the way, Dude. Booty Bear is having a meltdown. What happened?"

"I think it's the letters. One in particular…" Henry said and ran a hand through his hair. "There was a time, about six months in when I was thinking about giving me and Jasper an actual try and I wrote to you about it, but basically decided not to."

"This is why I don't really understand WHY those letters ever had to leave your goddamn possession!" She fumed and shook her head as they got on the elevator. "Why would ever hand him something like that?"

"I figured it was better for it to happen now than it come out later somehow and what happened with you happened with him, or with both of you. I… am trying to hard to get everything out in the open and clarified and comprehended. We can't ever become, if we don't deal with the shit." He fought to not cry. The last time he cried when he didn't have a right, it only pissed her off. He shook his head and whispered, "I almost fucking died. I still have scars from that night. I still have nightmares sometimes. And, even though I was hostage for all those hours and ultimately had to fucking kill someone…"He clenched his fists, "That wasn't the worst part of the night." He started laughing and turned to face the wall, because he knew that the tears were coming.

"Hen…"

"No. Sorry… I just… Go, um… Go make sure he's okay. Tell him I'm sorry and I love him, K?" She rubbed Henry's chest and nodded, then pulled him in for a hug. The elevator doors opened and Jasper was standing there. He slumped his shoulders and sighed. Charlotte patted Henry on the back and got off to check on Jasper. Henry went back down.

"I coulda done without seeing that today," Jasper admitted.

"Yeah. I coulda done without you actually reading those stupid letters, but Henry said something that made me… give pause. I've been thinking that this was so important to him because I never let him tell me how he felt. Do you think maybe it's so important to him because now that he's said it, he doesn't want it to seem like secrets that he's keeping from us? He doesn't want another night like that night… and I never knew how bad it had been for him. I never gave him a chance to speak. I was so done that I didn't even think about what he'd been through. I didn't even weigh it out against what I was feeling. I was so hurt…"

"You had every right to be hurt. You had every right to feel how you felt and do what you did, Charlotte. And, you've had no real reason to give him another chance, but here we are, seemingly doing just that. We're… in a relationship with him. You realize that, right? It's like the one that I had with him, where shit is really not spoken about and a little unclear, but we all know good and goddamned well that it's a thing that's happening. I just… Do you think that I'm here because he wants you and he knows he has to have me as part of the package? Do you think that he… Do you think that he could ever love me anywhere near the level that he loves you?" Jasper's eyes were watery.

"Yeah. I think that he _does _love you that much. I think that those letters are a part of his past. I think that how he hurt you is a part of your past. I think that my anger at him is a part of my past. They're parts that we have to fucking figure out, J. But… They're the past, still. He told me himself he's sorry and he loves you. Look. Let's do this… Let's… take those letters that both of you have been obsessed with for the past couple of weeks and let's just… figure out at least those parts together. The three of us. How does that sound?"

"You said that you didn't want to do that. You didn't want to stir up any bad emotions. I don't want you to do that for me, Charlotte."

"Well… I don't want to do it, but I know that I have to. For us."

He took her into a hug. "You're always gonna love me, even if it turns out that he doesn't, right? And if I feel heartbroken by that, you won't be mad and me and will know that it doesn't mean that I don't love you, right?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay. Thank you. Henry snapped at me tonight and I just… I'd already been transported to that time with the letters and hearing him speak to me harshly just took me deeper in. He can't talk to me like that."

"He sure can't and I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind about it, too! Then, we're all gonna detox, okay?" Jasper nodded. She kissed him on the cheek and texted Henry.

_Come home now. We all gotta talk._


	13. Dear Charlotte

**Dear Charlotte**

She told Jasper to go get the letters and meet them at the table, and he was still doing that when Henry came off of the elevator. She approached her second guy and folded her arms, but only sighed, "So… You snapped at Jasper?" She asked it, and sounded genuinely puzzled. This wasn't an accusation and she didn't seem to be fussing at him, so he was grateful for that.

"That's why I sent an apology. I didn't mean to snap at him, but with the tone that I took, I'm sure that it bothered him, because of how I used to talk to him whenever I was lashing out about everything." He bit his lip and looked at his shoes.

"I think that he probably has a mild trauma response to some of the emotional danger that may have been inflicted upon him."

"Definitely, that." Henry looked up at her and her arms were still folded, but she still didn't seem angry. "I've tried to speak with him about my emotional abuse towards him, but he brushed it off and changed the subject. I don't want to _keep _bringing it up and stir up his responses, but I also don't want him so settled in it that if I raise my voice a little, he has a panic attack, even if it's a little one."

"Well, maybe we need to sort through the emotional distress he was in while being with you. I'm going to have to sort through some of mine…" She said and as though on cue, Jasper came in with the letters and began setting them in the stacks on the table. "We're going to get to the bottom of all of the stuff that we were feeling and try to figure out what to do with all of that." Henry looked indescribably grateful. She whispered, "You need to start by opening up to him the same way that you opened up to me on that elevator."

"Won't that sound like me making excuses?"  
"No. Open up about who you were at that time, what you're aware of, what you did to him and then go from there. I'll be right here…" She realized that it was super quiet and they turned to see Jasper, standing next to the table, wondering what they were whispering about. She smiled and came to him, "Hey. You feeling better?"

"Yeah. I just needed you to validate me," he said it cooly and shrugged his shoulders, but he meant that down to his core. She kissed him on the cheek and took a seat at the table.

Henry came up next and Jasper frowned, but Henry opened his arms and asked, "Is it okay if we hug this out?" Charlotte cleared her throat and smiled. Jasper gave Henry a buddy hug, with a shoulder pat and sat next to Charlotte. She flared her nostrils. She'd _told _Henry where to start. And it wasn't any damn hug!

Now, Henry began his talk to Jasper. He kneeled between he and Charlotte, but was looking at Jasper, who looked a little bit confused, but was paying attention. "Jasper. I want to make up for so much of what I did to you, and I realize that not only back then, but every lingering bit of fear or sadness that you have because of that is my responsibility to tend to and make it up to you." Jasper furrowed his eyebrows, but his shoulders relaxed and both Henry and Charlotte noticed that small gesture. "I know that I've mentioned this before and you weren't really interested in talking about it, but I definitely emotionally abused you when we were together. I gaslit you. I manipulated you. I lashed out at you. Sometimes, I was very conscious of my lies and my games, and sometimes, those toxic parts of me just came out naturally and unfortunately, you were the closest person to me and the most frequent target of rage and sorrow that had nothing to do with you. I'm so sorry that I did those things and that it's still bothering you, to this day." _THIS would have been the time to ask for the hug, _Charlotte sighted. She took that time to reach over on the table and take Jasper's hand. He intertwined their fingers, but hadn't taken his eyes off of Henry.

"SO, I'm going to use the best of my ability to try to help you to heal from my harm, if you'll let me. But, I need you to know and to believe that I am not doing this because of Charlotte. I've meant what I said, and I feel what I feel for both of you, whether or not that gets reciprocated." He reached out and cupped Jasper's face and Jasper tilted his head, slightly, rubbing closer to it. Jasper's eyes closed and he experienced this gentleness for a moment, something that he had wished for, for a long time. Henry glanced at Charlotte and she puckered up her lips and gestured. He looked confused, but moved forward, and stopped just at Jasper's face. Jasper's eyes quickly opened as he recognized how close Henry was to him and Henry's eyes were closed now, but he was moving forward and Charlotte let go of Jasper's hand for this moment that he supposed she approved of.

And it was everything that he remembered it was, but not as cold. It was like true love's kiss, _finally, _from someone he had long since thought was his soul mate. He barely wanted it to end, but when it did, Henry simply leaned back and stared into his eyes, cupping his face. Jasper took a swallow. His mouth was dry and his hands were sweaty. He gently removed Henry's hands from his face and reached for Charlotte's again, hoping that she would accept it; that he hadn't misread her silence. She intertwined their fingers, smiled softly at him and stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. For a moment, he didn't think about Henry's lips or how gingerly he touched him. For a moment, he was looking at his true love, his soul mate.

When Henry stood up to go to the other seat at the table, Jasper watched him. There it was again. The same butterflies, the same heart eyes. He didn't know how it was possible to feel so strongly and deeply for more than one person, but he did. _Both _of these loves were true, and nobody would ever be able to convince him otherwise.

Charlotte said, "Okay… I love what you've done here. I think I'm ready to dive right in. The stacks can serve as a bit of trigger warning, but I think that I'll read them in order, if that doesn't make you feel like you worked on organizing for nothing."

"No! Do whatever you need to do." He shuffled his chair closer to her so that he could hold her free hand, and also have his arm around her. She'd told him numerous times that his big arms made her feel safe. He peppered her temple with kisses accordingly, through her reading and Henry sat, bouncing his leg and waiting for moments to answer questions, or fetch water, or whatever Jasper and Charlotte would ask or demand of him.

.

_(Day 1) Dear Charlotte, _

_Okay… My thoughts are kinda all over the place, at the moment. It's's taken me a long time to figure out what I need to say and I still don't feel like it came out right or like I've earned the right to even say anything to you. Less than 24 hours, and you seemed to have obliterated me from your life, and I get it. I promise, I do. I don't believe that it's forever, and I hope that it isn't for long. You and I were building a life, and I was the one who came through and bulldozed it down by talking to other women and behaving like a down low hoe… I still promise you - I've never touched anyone else. I never would have. It shouldn't have been so much fun to me to talk dirty and exchange photos and fantasize. My love for you should have been enough to tide me over, just like you said, whether or not I was in any danger. But… you're my goddess, Charlotte. I never had faith in much, but I've always had faith in you. I don't know how I will ever survive without you. You keep me whole and balanced and safe. Please, if you can't forgive me, can you have mercy on me? You have no idea what I went through when I was in that place. Scratch that. I'm sorry. What I meant to say was I went through something and I don't think that I'll be okay if I can't have you here with me to help me recover. You don't owe me, not after what I did, but please. I'm begging you, Char. Please, don't forsake me right now. Please, just save me this once more and I'll never ask anything of you again. I'll offer you every sacrifice. I'll dedicate my entire life to this. Please. Please… don't have actually abandoned me. Please, be coming back, at least to call me stupid and tell me off. I can't handle this silence. I can't handle this darkness. I'm so sorry. I promise, I love you. I'm sorry that I didn't do it right in the dark. _

_Love, Henry. _

_P.S. I will never do anything to risk us again. I promise. Even if you won't take me back. I need my friend for what is haunting my mind right now. _

Charlotte slapped that one face down and almost started crying. "You wanna stop?" Jasper asked, concerned.

She shook her head and looked up at Henry. He looked like he was in pain. Even though she read it to herself, he had pretty much memorized those letters. He looked over them all of the time. He'd used them for key points to focus on whenever he went to therapy. He knew that she knew what he'd been going through now, and he wished that he hadn't sprung that on her in the elevator. She whimpered, "Does Jasper know? What was in your head at the time?"

Henry shook his head, fighting off tears. This was his muck. He couldn't cry right now. "I didn't want to open up to Jasper about it. I was subconsciously worried that if I talked to anybody but you about it, you'd feel betrayed again."

"So… He still doesn't know?" She asked, incredulously.

"Whenever I said it to you in the elevator, that was the first time that I said it out loud to anybody but Ray. That was the first time I admitted it to someone who wasn't there when it happened." Charlotte reached for the second letter and Henry wondered, "Should I tell him now?" She looked at Jasper.

Jasper shook his head, "I don't want to hear anything that might distract me from taking care of Char right now, unless I need to know it TO take care of her."

"Later, then," she said and already felt exhausted as she read on, letter after letter of the same thing in different ways. The handwriting got increasingly bad for a bit, like he was too emotional to really get the words properly. After a few days, there were more mistakes, some letters were written in pencil and the erase marks caused holes in the paper. Many of them were slightly ruined by tear stains. He always apologized for the condition of less than pristine letters, but his tone was everchanging. He was becoming very angry about things. His moods swinging, even in the process of writing, from being angry, to being apologetic and pointing out that he knew he didn't have a right to feel that way.

_Day 17, Dear Charlotte,_

_I tell you that I love you everyday, but you never get to read it or hear it. I don't know if I send up a prayer, will you somehow know? They told me that you've moved out of state. They've told me that you SAID TO THEM that you didn't want to be near me, see me, talk to me, or have to ever even run into me. You don't think that's harsh? You don't think that even though I GROSSLY messed up and did something very, VERY wrong that remorse and repentance should be at least discussed? All of the years that we were friends and all of the years that we were lovers, I honestly didn't earn any leeway for doing something wrong?_

"Ugh… You didn't just do something WRONG, what you did was selfish, destructive, a violation of my trust, and of the stability and integrity of the relationship! You write these letters like I somehow did something TO YOU because of how I responded to what you did TO ME!" She fussed, as she read. He knew that she wasn't looking for feedback. She had done similar things throughout this reading project.

_All of those years, I thought that no matter what we ever did to each other, that neither of us would ever do something like this. If you had done this, I would have forgiven you. Maybe, you might think that we both know that you would never do something like this, but we don't know that for sure and you don't know how hard it is for me. My responsibilities started at a very early age. I've had to always man up and take care of everybody around me. In my mind… I thought that I deserved more from you. I hate to say that. Now, I know that I was mistaken, by the simple fact that everyday you've been gone feels like dying. I feel like I agree with what you said that night… I should have died…_

"I NEVER said that you should have died!" She shrieked and sniffled and pushed the letter away from her, not even wanting to read the rest of it. "That's not what I said! What I said was bad and I'm sorry, but if that was what you thought I said all these years, I…" she stood up and tried to catch her breath.

Jasper jumped up and collected her from the table. "I think we're done for tonight," He told Henry. He cuffed her closely to himself and escorted her to her bedroom. After a while, he came back out and sat in his seat. He sighed and shook his head, "It was unfair of us to make her feel like she had to read any of this. She shouldn't be crying herself to sleep for reacting in anger to something infuriating that you did to her."

"I know. I agree."

"What do we do? She asked me to not even sleep in her room tonight. She never wants me gone when she's asleep." He rested his face on his fists and Henry came around the table and rubbed his back, then laid on it and rubbed his arms. Jasper allowed it for a while, but then he shook him off and shook his head. "I wanna be available, if she needs me," he said. He got up, left the table and made himself a little pallet outside of her room to lay down, charge his phone and get a little bit of rest.

.

Eventually, she came out of the room. Jasper was asleep on the floor and she immediately felt bad. For some reason, she thought that maybe he and Henry would spend the night together, but she might have known that as her official boyfriend, he would have felt obligated to try to be there for her. She leaned down and shook him a little, "Jasper," she whispered. He was a pretty deep sleeper. She'd joke that she hoped nobody ever broke in, because they'd make it out with everything and might even be able to kill her while he slept. He declared that if he heard her in danger, he'd definitely most likely be woken up by that.

She tried in vain to get him to wake him up back she barely even got him to budge. Charlotte sighed, grabbed her fuzzy blanket and laid right next to him. If you can't beat them, join them. _Where was Henry? _

Charlotte found him still at the table, staring at the letters across from him. Whenever she appeared, he stood quickly to come to her. "Are you doing okay?"

She hugged herself and cleared her throat, "Jasper fell asleep on the floor and I can't wake him up to get him into bed." He nodded and moved quickly to help her out.

Jasper woke up as Henry tried to hoist him. "What are you doing?" He asked groggily.

"Char wants you in bed," Henry said.

Suddenly, Jasper was more alert. "Char! You okay, Babe?" He found his footing and she nodded and took his hand, leading him into the room. Henry stayed at the door. Jasper was speaking softly to her. Henry couldn't hear, but he turned to leave and Charlotte caught his hand. Jasper was climbing into bed.

"I didn't say that," Charlotte said, softly. "I was very angry and very hurt, but I didn't say what you wrote I said. I wouldn't say that to anybody, not even you at my angriest!" She sniffled. "I… was really mad at my dad. Whenever he left my mom, I felt like I needed to try to be there for her and she was like, 'No, go be with Henry. You've already planned to move out…"

"**My mom was alone in the house for years. My dad left and I moved in with Henry and she was there dealing with an empty nest and a failed marriage. He was in and out of her life and I was only checking in part time, because I had so many things I was trying to build. But, I thought those things were worth it, to maybe not be able to put as much energy into her as she might have needed at that point.**

**For me, I was leaving her behind, but I rationalized, because she told me to do what would make me happy, and I thought that was Henry… **

**Then this happened and I just couldn't believe that I'd left my mom behind for someone who would do this to me. Somebody that I felt was obviously just like my father. So… I was definitely mad at Henry, but I felt like I was reliving a lot of my rage towards my dad and I guess that I melded the two in my brain and I snapped that night."**

"I left my mom alone during the hardest part of her life, so that I could build a life with you. It just… I was hurt and angry, but that's not what I said and it's important that you process this." He nodded his head and moved a few tendrils of hair from her face. She sniffled again and he offered a semi smile. No matter what, Charlotte hated crying in front of people. She loved crying. Scientifically, she knew that if the body was doing so, it needed that emotional release, but she didn't like the misfortune of someone witnessing it. That made her feel exposed. She was fine to roam around completely naked in front of someone, but crying? That was just too intimate. Henry realized at that moment, even for him.

"You wanna come in?" She wondered. He nodded and when she closed the door after him, he got into her bed and offered her an embrace that she gladly came into.

Jasper was next to him, eyes open and just musing. Henry spoke. "I was done with them, that night. I knew before you even found out that I needed to distance myself from anything that might take my attention off of you. I talk about it in a letter, too. How I was ready to come home safe and MARRY you after the days that Ray and I had on that mission. I was gonna cut out Bianca, Chloe and every other girl that I was talking to at that time. I was gonna ask Jasper to start helping me look for rings. I just wanted to know that no matter what I did… particularly… what I had to do to make sure that I got back home to you… I needed to know that you could still love me."

"You had to kill someone to get back home _to me._"

"I did," he cleared his throat and said, "I didn't quite get over it. I'm still working through it. It doesn't happen frequently, but has happened since. It's never okay and I never even have an excuse anymore. So… I just deal with it." He shrugged his shoulders and Jasper sat up and moved in behind Char to hug her from behind and rest his head on her shoulder, pulling Henry closer to both of them and strumming his hair. "How are Jasper's hugs still the very best thing in the world, even from a person away?" Henry asked.

"Because he's Jasper," Charlotte said, like that explained it all. Jasper was happy to see that between the other two, it honestly seemed to.

.

**"The hardest letters were the ones where I had to admit and apologize for being a shitty person. The threesome with the Woods Girls, some of my more detailed examples of rudeness to Jasper… and somehow the easiest ones were ones that I was having a full out mental breakdown while writing. It's like Char and Jasp could sense how distraught I was and they felt bad for me. We're working our way to the last of them. With every single one, I feel like I get a little bit lighter and like we get a little bit closer and that was ultimately what I wanted the most. **

**It gives a doorway for Charlotte to ask me things that she didn't know that she cared to know about and for me to explain things to Jasper that I wasn't man enough to admit to him back then. I feel like they have newfound respect for me, or at least they like being around me again and I'm just… Piper told me that my smiles look real again."**

**"I'm surrounded by fake people all of the time. I know a real smile when I see one."**

**(Caption) Piper Hart, Public Figure, Media Influencer, Founder of Pay the Piper Enterprises, Henry is Her Brother, She's not "Henry's Sister."**

**.**

Henry was in his office for a really long time, lately. Charlotte noticed it first, because she was attentive and suspicious by nature. Plus, Jasper spent the first part of most days asleep. She had fully recovered and went back to work at the lounge, but her hours weren't as hectic as Jasper's were. She went in for evenings to waitress and left before people got too drunk, unless she was singing, in which she closed the place on stage.

A typical day for her was to wake up for yoga and the sunrise, which the guys met her on the balcony for… They would talk while it occured, not even watching it sometimes, whenever they had a nice chat going. Besides, nobody there thought that anything was more beautiful than seeing the others' features come to life by the light of that rising sun. Henry would tend to plants and he and Jasper would hit the gym and have brunch. Jasper would come home and go to sleep while Henry would get washed up and go into his office, and Charlotte would do various things around the house to make sure the vibe felt good for everyone, then either get out and get some sunlight, stay in and write music or read books, or go the the Man Cave and work on her project.

She spent a few days inside, so she noticed that Henry was spending way more time in his office than usual. She asked Jasper if he knew what that was about. "Maybe he's taken in more clients to support you," Jasper said. He said it casually and innocently, but Charlotte felt some kind of way about it.

"**I've never asked Henry for anything and yes, I got really comfortable being in his space and using his things, but that was mostly because he OFFERS things. He says, "I'll cook you something." He asks, "Want me to order whatever you need?" He custom made a bedroom for me years before we even spoke to each other. So, for Jasper to say that to me, like I was some kind of additional burden on Henry or something was hurtful, but I didn't dwell on it." *Folds her arms.**

Charlotte waited in the living room, in a pantsuit, with a book, and whenever Henry came out of his office, he paused. "Is something wrong?" He wondered. "What is it?"

She put her bookmark that she'd created of the dried yellow rose petals in her book and shut it, then sat it down and stood up. "Is it Jasper?" He wondered.

Charlotte approached, glanced at his office door and folded her arms, "Did you not have a client?"

"No. I had some other work to do. I usually just do all of my work in my office."

"What other work did you have to do?" She asked.

"A few things concerning the show with the production team. Getting some of the house affairs reorganized with my assistant…"

"Like, everyday?" She wondered.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, until I get it all sorted out. Is something the matter?"

"You're lying to me," she said, point blank. "And, I thought that we were beyond that. But, if we aren't, I don't see any reason to waste either of our time." She reached for her book, and he reached for her wrist. She gasped when he touched her, flashing back to that night, even though this was completely different. This was gentle and warm and just as reflexive, but he wasn't angry or upset, and she wasn't _as _angry or upset. "Henry…"

He let go, "Sorry. I didn't mean to put my hands on you. I just… It's a surprise, for you and Jasper. Okay? Sorry I lied. I should have known that I wouldn't be able to hide stuff from you and I should have thought about the fact that I'm not the easiest person to trust. But, I'm never going to do anything to hurt either of you, again. I promise you that and hopefully, one day you'll see that I'm telling the truth about it."

"I don't really like surprises," she said.

"I know… but it isn't like a SURPRISE surprise. It's more like, I'm putting some things in motion that I hope everyone will appreciate, okay?" She studied his body language, facial expression, the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes. She believed him.

"Okay." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll tell me if I'm putting you out by being here, right?"

"I want you here. I want both of you here, for as long as you'll stay. Don't worry about putting me out. You know what kind of money superheroes make?" He smiled.

.

"_Day 467. Dear Charlotte,_

_Jasper told me that it's our 1 year anniversary. Well, no… He told me "Happy One Year Anniversary," and got me some nice gifts. I don't know how you can actually count and pinpoint an exact date to something that began as a Friends with Benefits arrangement. Like… At what point did it become something to count the days and at what point was it decided that a year was significant? _

_Like, a few months back whenever he said that since he's been here for like a year, like everyday, he should just apply to be added to the lease, it sounded like a convenience thing. Why wouldn't he say something like, "I'm your boyfriend and I'm here everyday, so we should move in together"? We're best friends, but we also have sex and that makes things kinda murky. Now, he's talking anniversaries and gifts and you know what, Charlotte?_

_Part of me is like, _Rubberduck it. _He's good to me. He's a complete GOD in the sack. Nice to look at. His hugs are like awesomely great and he will talk to you and listen to you about just about anything…"_

"I agree with all of that," Charlotte said and reached for Jasper's hand, kissed it and kept going.

"_The other part of me is like… Sure, he's all of that, but you've been torn since day 1 and it is now… I just did the math on my phone and it has been 467 days since you left and I began writing these letters. I think… Maybe, it's about time that I stop. You will likely never return. I'll likely never see you again. You'll likely never read these and never know just how loved you actually were. You'll probably always think that you were only loved until the point that you were betrayed and that maybe, I never actually loved you anyway. Because, who does things like that to somebody that they love? Maybe somebody that wasn't properly taught to love, or wasn't shown the healthiest of examples of it. It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is this…_

_When I got home that night, all I wanted was you. And, if you ever see this, I know that I'll still feel the same. I'll always love you more than life itself. But, it's my anniversary, apparently and I have to try to love somebody else too. I have to try to move on. I have to try to be better in the future. I have a wonderful best friend who still wants me, even though I'm kinda highkey trash. I have to at least try to make it up to him, having been here to see me through getting over you. It didn't work, but I won't write again. I'll have to just live with all of this. But, if we meet again, know that I'll want you. Know that I'll love you. Know that I'll need you. I won't ever find rest without you. I'm sorry that I caused this._

_Goodbye, Charlotte."_

Jasper took a deep breath. "I can't believe that we finally got to the end."

"There's another one," she said, and picked up a heavy letter.

"No, there wasn't. I opened all of them and sorted the whole first half before you came on board with reading, and I've been right here for the rest of the readings, too. That wasn't part of it," Jasper said.

Henry cleared his throat and said, "It's new."

Jasper frowned, "You wrote another one? Like… since we've been here?"

"Yeah," Henry said. After the reading of that last one, Jasper didn't know if he wanted to hear another one.

Charlotte slid it across the table and said, "You read it to us." Henry took a swallow, nodded his head and opened it. He definitely stumbled along the way and he knew that he paraphrased a few things. Reading right off of the page wasn't exactly his best gift, but he knew the heart and soul of what he'd written there for them.

"Day One. Dear Charlotte and Jasper,

It's so silly to call this day one, but I feel like we've now all come to a point where whatever lies in the future, it can be a new start for the three of us. I messed up with both of you, one way more than the other and in a way, I messed up longer and harder with one of you, because I was still holding on where I had been told to let go. I didn't really respect either of you, upon further self examination. What I thought was love was tainted in a variety of ways and whenever I did good and nice things, I had begun to treat you both like I treat my obligations - doing it for the sake of being able to say that I did something nice or good. Which, at the end of the day is self-serving and underhanded.

I had to lose every good thing that I had to realize that even if I could accumulate fine things, expensive things, high quality things, have every sexual exploit that my eyes desired and my mind could create and live what I would say has to be my best life… my life still wouldn't be fruitful and I'd have zero joy, because I never knew love after you two were gone, and having both of you back in my life has been the hardest thing to process and the best joy that I have ever had.

I love both of you so much and I really am willing to spend the rest of my life, my time, my energy, my money, my moments… just giving back to you as much as I can for all of the love that you each gave me when I didn't know how to handle it in a healthy way. I'm so much better now, and you two are a big part of that. I never would have went to therapy if I hadn't hurt the ones that I thought I cared so much about. I never would have unpacked my problems and toxicity. I hate that it turned out the way that it did between us, but I have hope that what will turn out from here on out will be harmonious and beautiful. The three of us, on one accord, for as long as you both are willing to have me, if you're willing to have me…" He came around the table and Charlotte was tense. Jasper was close to tears. Henry got down on one knee, in between the two of them.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte wondered, suspiciously and kind of terrified.

He slid two rings out of the envelope and Jasper started crying. Henry said, "I know that legally we can't really… commit to each other the way that I would want us to, but I felt the need to do something important and have a show of how significant you both are…" Jasper offered his hand and Henry slid one of the two rings onto his finger. Charlotte chewed on her lip and stared at the other ring in Henry's hand. "It's either the three of us, or I leave both of you alone. I won't try to come in between you two."

"It's not that," she said, trying not to cry. She hated that shit SO MUCH. The crying shit. "What if you find that I don't fit into this? That it can't be the three of us? What if I'm the one that winds up… It's just that I worked really hard, and I keep having nothing to show for it. Not because I'm not good at things, but because I probably need to be… easier to deal with and I don't know to do that. Everybody eventually catches on." She wiped her face and started crying harder, angry that she was crying more than the initial fear of being the one in this group that messes up the emotional/romantic flow of this union.

"We're not gonna go it without you!" Jasper told her trying to make eye contact with her and taking her hands. "We won't force you, but what you're worried about, I promise you, I'm not letting it happen. You read those letters. You know what I'm willing to put up with and we both know that you'd never ever be able to manage that level of being hard to love. You're amazing. You aren't difficult at all. You have standards and you deserve them, and we're gonna try to meet them, and if they get to be too hard to meet, we'll talk to you about it. But, I'm never letting you go, if I can ever help it!"

Henry pulled her closer to him and strummed her face, searching her eyes for a moment and said, "If I ever hurt you again, whatever I don't do to punish myself, Jasper definitely wi-"

"I'll beat the living shit out of him," Jasper said before Henry's declaration could be completed. Shakily, Charlotte offered her hand for Henry to put a ring on it. And she closed her eyes, cried, and leaned forward to give Henry the first real kiss that she had given him in a long time.


	14. Sense and Sens(ibility)uality

_Content Warning for sexual discussion and conversation about anatomy, body image, and sex. _

**Sense and Sens(ibility)uality**

Nothing had to REALLY change, as far as Henry was concerned. Well… He'd been sexless for months, because he had only been able to feel sexual whenever he thought about them, and they weren't in a position to explore that, before. Now they were, and he didn't want to be the one to bring it up, lest he looked like that was his motivation for getting them to agree to be his. So, while he watched Jasper seduce Charlotte with his fingertips on a regular basis and saw her frequently grabbing, swatting, and rubbing on Jasper's butt. He kinda… just silently went without those types of affections. Jasper would kiss him hello on the neck whenever he came to bed at night, they held hands at brunch after their workouts and no hour was free from a hand kiss from Jasper, when they were in the same space for a while. But Char? She was something else.

She became awkward whenever Henry touched her, now, and she never seemed to be reaching for him. What changed? They had been doing so well before it became official. He decided that maybe he would ask Jasper about during one of their morning dates, and hoped that Jasp wouldn't tell him to ask her. He didn't, but Henry hated to hear what he had to say.

"You have to remember that she had a lot of time to stew in what you said about her sexually," Jasper told him, with a shrug. "You made her feel sexually incompetent and insecure about her body. Not necessarily in general… But, definitely at least with you. You told other people what she was bad at and what you hated about her appearance. She's not going to just feel comfortable trusting you in that space again because you got her a pretty ring. In fact, knowing her, she's never gonna let go of that. Even if she manages to forgive it completely."

"That was YEARS ago!" Henry complained.

"She's got the same body," Jasper said, then smiled and bragged, "But not the same skills!" Henry blushed. "I haven't had a single cause for complaint about anything she does with her mouth..."

"Okay!" Henry said, tight pantsed and frustrated.

"I can teach you what I did," Jasper said.

"Pssshhhht! I am a sex master. I could blow her mind, if you know… I had the chance."

"I can teach you what I did," Jasper repeated.

"Just… Tell me what you THINK you could teach me."

"Well… I never _tried_ to have sex with Charlotte. Even when it became clear that there was something between us and when I was very much-so interested in having sex with her, I never tried to. Instead, I just appreciated everything else about her that I could."

"I know that and I do that."

"You know that in a textbook sort of sex and relationship specialist way, but you definitely do not do it."

"This morning, I thanked her for always making us juice!" Henry said.

"You did," Jasper acknowledged with a nod and the shrug of his shoulders, "_I _thanked her for taking time out of her day to do work that could only help make me better. It sounds like the same thing to you, but yours only thanked her for what she's doing for you. I made sure to focus in on the fact that I know that what she does for me takes something away from her - her time. She feels validated by that kinda stuff. Before we ever made love, I spent several of our times together just complimenting everything. Her looks, her actions - everything from the lines on her muscles, to the quality of her hair, from how she kissed to the sounds she made whenever I touched her. Like… EVERYTHING. She needs attention and validation, but she would NEVER say that she does or ask for it. She's a proud person and she only tends to open herself up to those that she doesn't have to ask for the things that she knows that she deserves. And her standards were already high, and she has been with this super amazing dude that has made her feel even more worthy, so her standards are like super amazingly high now. Only somebody willing to go above, beyond and then some are gonna register to her on the intimacy level. Like, I think she wants to trust you and love you and stuff, but I think that you haven't really shown her anything more than love. You're gonna have to learn to worship."

Henry sat and thought a while, nursing his mimosa as Jasper watched, stirring his boozy milkshake with the wide straw. Finally, Henry sighed and said, "Teach me." Jasper's face was filled with victory.

.

All three of them had the night off. Charlotte had been working primarily on her project with Schwoz, forsaking the lounge to do so, though she and Henry went in to visit Jasper sometimes and they still called her for musical performances. But, on this night, Henry had cooked, while some of her favorite music played in the background and she read on the couch with the fluffy blanket around her. Henry had brought her some pre-dinner fruit and told her, "I know that you're saving the world in your own special way whenever you spend time in the lab, so I wanted you to be able to relax tonight." She furrowed her eyebrows at this, but graciously accepted the plump, assorted, peeled grapes.

Jasper had on his booty shorts and her eyes followed him all around the house, as he did stuff. Henry was in a pair of silk pajamas and she was wondering why both of them were dressed for bed when nobody had even eaten yet. _But you know what? Her book was good and she was getting eyefuls of butt, so she wasn't gonna question a thing… Out loud… just yet._ She continued reading and ogling, where desired and eventually got up.

"Are you going to bed?" Henry wondered.

"Unless you don't want me to? I can go to my room if you and Jasper have plans," she said.

"I kinda wanted us all together tonight," Henry said and shrugged his shoulders a little.

"Okay. Well, I'll most likely still be awake whenever you come to bed. I'm not hungry. I just had a queen's share of grapes."

"We'll be in after dinner," Jasper said.

"Can you come see something for a moment?" She asked him.

"Without Henry?" He clarified, a little bit wound up.

She shut her book and smiled a little. "Okay. So, I feel like the two of you are up to something, but I don't know what, so tell me whether or not this is my imagination."

Jasper smiled gently and shrugged his shoulders, "You're the smartest person here. We can't get anything past you. We're definitely up to something. I'm helping Henry learn to win your affections."

"I don't think that what you have can be taught, Jasper. Henry is going to have to appeal in his own way," she said, shaking her head.

"Okay," Jasper said. She could tell that it was not okay.

"Anyway, drawing me to your thickums booty buttcheeks isn't even something that Henry is equipped to do," she said.

"**No offense to Henry, but RIP to what would have been his butt."**

**-Charlotte**

"**I OBVIOUSLY was not trying to learn how to entice her with my butt!" **

**-Henry**

"Know what? Dinner can wait. Let's just chill for a little bit. Is that okay?" Jasper asked, in _the voice. _She knew that voice. The soft, loving, _I am gonna love you down really good, if you let me _voice. She ALWAYS let him do whatever he suggested in that voice. She'd jokingly said it was one of his superpowers.

"**They make a lot of jokes about my sex culture, but really… it's no joke. I'm very serious about everything. Those are serious moments, to me. I've never really had a casual encounter or meaningless one. For me, any time that I'm granted someone's space intimately, that's a sign of trust and expectation. I want to be able to deliver whatever it is that my partner is looking for. That's something that hasn't always been reciprocated for me, but I think I'm finally in a situation where it will be and I kinda want all of us on that same wavelength. Charlotte and I are amazing together. Henry and I were amazing together in a different way. The three of us could be dream status amazing, but it'll take work, of course."**

Charlotte nodded her head to Jasper's suggestion. Henry noted that her eyes changed color They looked darker, were heavy lidded and glossy, twinkling. Jasper hoisted her up, seemingly with no ease at all. Henry also paid attention to that, because Charlotte was light and tiny, but he still had to put a little work into picking her up… or at least he used to. Maybe it'd be easier these days. At any rate, he followed them to the bedroom. Charlotte stared at Jasper's face the entire walk there and whenever he set her on the bed, her eyes still didn't leave him. That sharp, dedicated focus - Henry envied it. He remembered her watching him very intently at one point, too. Seeing her with Jasper was still a blend of envy and enticement, but something that he now felt like he was entitled to, instead of imposing upon. The levels of emotional confusion within the relationship were ever changing, at the moment and he knew that might last for a little while, until the three found their groove within their new title. The professional in him knew that there could be a loving, giving, fulfilling relationship between all three of them, without there being isolation or discord.

The Henry in him felt like Charlotte was going to have involuntary turf wars with him anytime he wanted to get close to Jasper. Jasper was the most… accommodating, of the three of them. Henry was the most selfish. Charlotte was the most sensitive, if you can believe it. She wasn't sensitive in that she still cried about the past or got her feelings hurt easily. But, she was sensitive as in - she was the last to have been faced with addressing her pain and it was still a sore spot for her AND she was a little untrusting, even if she didn't WANT to be.

Charlotte, a naturally suspicious person, who learned at an early age that she couldn't trust the very first man that she was taught how a man is supposed to love, who at a less young, but still young age found out that she couldn't even trust the men that she thought she had done well in selecting as friends, if nothing else, and now, not only was she to trust them both with her heart, mind and body, but trust them not to forsake her as they also had access to each others'? It was a lot to expect of such a suspicious person who already had been betrayed in the past. It was easier for her to trust Jasper. Not only had they already dealt with him dating Henry almost as soon as she left the picture, but they had also talked about their relationship beyond him, had built up a relationship beyond him and had a relationship, a great one, in tact before he came back into their lives. So, Henry was well aware that not only was he dealing with her conscious distrust for the obvious and stated reasons, but also the subconscious one that probably identified him as a wedge that had become between she and Jasper. She would take some time to fully accept that he was not that, but a blanket that both of them could wrap themselves in for warmth and security.

Watching she and Jasper kiss was like a religious experience for Henry. He saw such love, trust, service. It was like watching someone do the thing that they were most passionate about - something sacred and wholesome that they allowed him to be a part of, and he felt the weight of its importance and the honor of his access. Jasper's fingers traced Charlotte's curves and angles, and he glanced at Henry and beckoned him closer with the soft jerk of his head. Henry came over and sat in a seat next to the bed. Jasper scoffed and collecting him by the tips of his fingers to gently guide him to the bed. Charlotte simply watched. Henry took that as permission and got into bed next to them, rested his face on his fist as he lay on his side to observe this magic up close. These were the two most beautiful creatures in the world, as far as he knew, and they both wanted to be here, with him.

Jasper walked his fingers across Charlotte's skin, like it was a little man and told Henry, "Whenever Charlotte and I first became intimate, I told her that I wish that I could shrink myself down in size, so that exploring her could be a long, adventurous journey. I drew a path on her body of the places that I would explore, confessed where I would spend most of my time, professed how I would commune with my surroundings on the emprise."

Winded, Charlotte said, still staring into Jasper's eyes, but clearly addressing Henry, "It was like, he knew that I wanted him already and that I was ready for him, but he wanted to make me completely powerless against him."

"You don't need to have power against me in this setting, Goddess. I'm just here to serve you. Not making you powerless, but giving you gifts that assure you that your power can rest, for now. You've got me to give you what you need in these moments." He glanced at Henry and said, "And now, you have him, too."

Charlotte's eyes lit up as she looked at Henry with anticipation. Of what, he wasn't sure, but he knew that all he wanted in life was to give her whatever it was! Not knowing made him hesitate. _What did she want? Should he make a move? Should he do what he'd just seen Jasper do, or would that make her feel less trustworthy of him and what he was bringing into her life?_ Her shoulders slumped ever so slightly during his thought processing and he also noticed that the light in her eyes dimmed a little. _**WHAT** did she need from him? Should he just ask her?_

Henry reached for Charlotte's hand and she felt her heart jump. "Hey…" He said, delicately, "I have no idea what you want or need from me, but I'm learning, okay? I'm paying attention. I'm taking it all in. Every word, every single action, even the smallest flicker of light in your eyes and the most seemingly unnoticeable slump of your shoulders. I'm noting these things, so I can be greater later. It might take me some time, but I don't just want to be right for you, I want to be perfect for you, like Jasper is, but with it being me, bringing me and me giving you what you request and require of me. Please, trust me and also, if it isn't asking too much of you, help me?"

Her shoulders fell a little more, but this time, in a more relaxed manner. "I'm sorry, Henry. You've been amazing, I promise. It isn't you that's causing the problem that you're noticing. It's me. Unlearning is not as easy for me as it might be for other people, because I'm used to being right. So, whenever I'm not… It takes me a little while longer to disprove my original mindset, to myself. You haven't done anything wrong, as far as I know. You don't have to stress yourself out over it." He leaned forward to kiss her, pausing in front of her lips, in case it wasn't okay, so she could meet him the rest of the way. She met him and he melted.

.

Henry was learning a lot from Jasper. He liked the way that he peppered in appreciation/affirmation into what he was doing, no matter how small the action seemed. Jasper was very vocal and interactive in an endearing way, not necessarily a "dirty talk" way, that Henry would have subscribed to (and liked personally, for himself too). But, with Jasper, it was more like he would already be in the process of having you, but he's still seducing you, too. And Henry loved Jasper and Charlotte's takes on why that was. He believed there was truth to both. Jasper definitely wanted to render her powerless, but he was sure that Jasper also wanted her to feel comfortable, safe and treasured.

The first time that Jasper saw Henry fiddling with Charlotte's breasts, he saw her face wrinkle in… something, and he stopped to figure out where he went wrong. "They aren't stress balls, Henry," Jasper said, with a tiny laugh. _It should be noted that Jasper's comment was caring, not mocking._ Jasper collected both of Charlotte's breasts tenderly cupped in his large hands and kissed her on the cheek. "Do you know what these are for? They're powerful. They're meant to feed, nourish, and make smarter and healthier babies. In the meantime, she _allows us _to enjoy them for entertainment. That does include stress relief, but she's not some inanimate object of affection, therefore also no part of her can be. Give, even these the same respect and consideration you give to her as a person. They're part of her person."

Henry wasn't sure when Jasper became so knowledgeable and smooth in these areas but he loved it. Charlotte broke into his thoughts with an observation, "Henry likes to smash them together and put his penis in the middle and rub it between them. I'm not really built for it, so they're not as fun for him as they seem to you."

Jasper shrugged his shoulders and said, "More titty for me."

Henry interjected, "That is NOT an issue that I have! That was years ago and I already apologized for that…" Jasper and Charlotte both stared at him, Jasper's hands still boob cuffing. Henry wanted to giggle about that cute image, but kept his straight face on. "I was young and stupid. I didn't know that would ever be found out and I didn't think that it would be as big of a deal as it was. I'm sorry that I gave you a complex…" Jasper winced and Charlotte scoffed, but that was exactly what Henry could tell that he had done. He probably gave her multiple negative body issues, being her first love, the first person she was intimate with and also the first to break her heart in such a disrespectful and disparaging way.

Jasper kissed her on the cheek as she said, "It's not a complex if the issue is something that the person only has with YOU. I don't feel any kind of way about Jasper coming in contact with my breasts. He's always valued and appreciated all of me. So, no, I don't have a complex. I have reservations about somebody who talked negatively about my body interacting with said parts of body!"

"That's valid," Henry said and nodded his head, thinking he probably had made her recoil back into her shell with him by even suggesting it. She WAS the sensitive one. He forgot that sometimes, because she was so tough.

Jasper said, "If it has to happen, Hen - I've got squishable titties you can use."

Henry was going to argue that this wasn't a real issue that he had, but also… That idea needed to have a pin stuck into it, for later, because Henry did love boob stuff. He made a mental note and removed Jasper's hands from Charlotte. "I've got these!" He said. (Jasper still talked him through _his _experiences with them).

"Whenever Charlotte first let me see those, I was in awe. She's majestic. All of her parts are so perfect and proportioned like artwork, and she was a little reserved and uncomfortable, so I wasn't going to focus on anything else, but them, until she relaxed or if it would have happened, realized that she wasn't into it and told me that she was gonna go home." Henry's newfound appreciation and attention to her body definitely had the desired effect. She relaxed, and they were able to move on.

.

Henry was a very quick learner when it came to sex-related stuff. That was ONE area in which he didn't need to pay close attention or study hard or work harder. After the initial getting Charlotte to warm up to him, he was certain that she at least enjoyed him. Of course, he had that sinking feeling in his gut that she didn't appreciate him like she did Jasper, but that was probably because Jasper was simply that impressive. He'd actually gotten better with time, and was either way better than Henry remembered, or Henry felt differently about it because he felt differently about him. He did love those titties though. Jasper went shirtless a lot around the house. Charlotte usually went bottomless, either bare in a big shirt of Jasper's (which Henry figured was why he was walking around shirtless), or in a pair of undies and whatever shirt she'd had on that day or the night before. Between the both of them, Henry could hardly focus once he stepped foot inside of the place.

Jasper got groped and cuddled a lot. Henry always hugged on him and messed with his manboobies and Charlotte sometimes literally did not remove a hand from his butt. Like, one day, he was watering plants so Henry could sleep in after a rough night of crime fighting, and she followed him around, complimenting and rubbing on it… like, the WHOLE time! He couldn't concentrate and _ALMOST _over-watered someone! As a result, even though it was her "fault," she took the watering can in one hand to finish watering the plants, told Jasper to come with her and kept a handful of Jasper butt the entire time. One of them was constantly fondling his chest, and the other his butt, and NO! He absolutely was NOT complaining, but… jeesh! Between the both of them, he could hardly get anything done with all of the… bodily appreciation.

Cuddle dates were boss, though. Henry would hug him from the back, cupping his chest (an erogenous area for Jasper) and Charlotte would have her head rested on his chest/Henry's hands, her hair blessing both and both her petite little hands cradling his Jasper's butt cheeks.

"**I think that because Charlotte loves butts and Henry doesn't really have one and Henry loves boobs and Charlotte doesn't really have much, I am the designated fun bags. I'm okay with that sometimes, but not like… ALL the time. I'm a human bean!"**

"**Did you say human BEAN?" - Interviewer**

"**What else would I say?"**

"Okay… I really love the attention that my wondrous man titties and my thicc juicy booty gets, but I need some space!" Jasper snapped. Henry and Charlotte's eyes widened, and they only both just realized that they were rubbing on said parts while Henry was playing on his phone and Charlotte was reading an article on her Pearpad. Jasper had been sitting there, obviously trying to play a video game, but hands were on his person.

Charlotte nodded, got up out of the bed and said, "Of course, BootyBear. Sorry about that." Henry slid over some on the bed, gave her a look and returned to his phone. Charlotte sat down on the floor and Henry sat on the edge of the bed, facing her. She snuggled against his legs like a cat and he put his hand in her hair and began to pet her. Jasper glanced over at the two of them and instantly regretted sending them away. But… that was healthy! It was what he needed at the moment and they respected that. Nobody argued with him or said it was no big deal or anything like that.

After a while, Charlotte got tired of sitting on the floor and climbed into Henry's lap. It wasn't as cozy as Jasper's but she adored this feeling, as well. Later still, Jasper leaned back, on the two of them, putting his head between Char's thighs and noticed the amount of times Henry's hand reflexively reached for his chest, but he either quickly retracted it or Charlotte caught it and interweaved their fingers, kissed his hand and gave him a sympathetic look. _I know you want to squish our juicy boy, but he's feeling a way right now. _Eventually, Henry just rested his free hand on Charlotte's breast. It was THAT small and it was actually softer than Jasper's, especially since he'd been working out so regularly again these days. And she nestled her hair into his neck, which slightly tickled, but in a way that you didn't want it to end.

Jasper cut off his video game and turned on some relaxation music, then turned around, this time face forward to lay in between Charlotte's thighs and fall asleep. His nose was directly in between her legs but he wasn't doing or trying anything sexual. She just had a scent that they all loved and whenever he was tired enough, it was warming and soothing, as opposed to the effect it had on him when he was full of energy and ready to go. Charlotte stroked his hair, continuing to read. Henry stroked hers, continuing to browse his emails. Jasper slept peacefully, without being objectified. Stuff was working out pretty gooooood.


	15. Priorities and Boundaries

**Priorities and Boundaries**

Henry had meetings with his production team before any of his appointments. They… didn't go as he would have hoped.

"So, Henry… As we all know, the recordings have taken somewhat of a turn in the past few weeks and we only have a few more weeks of recording before we take everything into production. We need to know what it is you want us to create with what we've been given."

"What do you mean?" He asked. "The stuff is right there. A look at my life and what matters to me. A look at who I am."

"Right, but the premise of this show was supposed to be who you are outside of these people, and all you've done is manage to show how much you can't live without them. Now, if we're making a reality show about your road to poly love, that's one thing, but if this is supposed to be Dr. Henry Hart, out of the shadows of his Swellview contacts, you haven't given us much to work with. Not to mention the heinously under-utilized opportunity we had to include Chloe and Bianca in this journey. We need more scenes with them, more footage of them, less footage of Charlotte and Jasper, more individual Henry, and for individual Henry to give us some of his juicier stuff from earlier in recording."

"There was never anything juicy. I've been being myself the whole time. I can give you solo stuff, but I'm mostly in the Man Cave whenever I'm not in an appointment or with Char and Jasper."

"THAT'S the problem. You spend too much time with them and not enough time giving us good content. Nobody is gonna watch a show about a sex doctor who is as fucked up as his clientele sexually and nobody is going to take relationship advice from a therapist that they discover is only just finding himself romantically, UNLESS you show us that despite these things, he is well rounded and capable. So far… You've managed to make yourself look even more inept than ever before and far more dependent than anybody would have guessed."

"I'm finally in a healthy relationship again. I feel human. That's my truth."

"Okay… But… There's _more _to your truth. What if… You unmasked?"

"If what." Henry said it with no facial expression or tone of voice. Surely, they were joking.

"We feel like the only thing that could really save this show right now is either a scandal or a sensation. I mean - let's be honest, Henry. You're enjoying this relationship right now, but in a few months, you'll be bored of them and want more. You'll remember how orgies felt and like and you. Will. Cheat. You're not going to remain in this relationship and therefore… you shouldn't prioritize it over the success of this show that you've put a lot of time and money into, and WE have put a lot into as well! We should work together on making a marketable product out of Henry Hart."

"Dr. Henry Hart," he said. "And… the product is as it is."

"Well, the product is defective, then!" Grumpy Cat said and got up. "Listen, you two can do this with him, but I'm not putting other projects on hold for something that all of the professionals in the room see going down the toilet."

He stormed out and Henry conferenced to the doorman, "Gooch, make sure that you collect all of Tyson's things. He's saying goodbye to this operation."

"Acknowledged," the young Gooch said.

Henry stood up, walked over to the door and locked it, cracked his knuckles and said, "I understand that there may be some frustrations about how things have turned out. I had a certain plan in mind for this project, as well. Have things changed, definitely? But, my goals haven't. So, maybe, just maybe there is no unknown Henry Hart outside of his friends. But, whoever I am, that's who you show. And, sure - if you want to try to film with Chloe and Bianca, I can't stop you, but I don't really have any reason to say anything more to either of them and my partners don't, either. One thing that I need for both of you to understand at this moment is this fact - whenever your team met me, I didn't have anything to lose, because I had lost everything, twice. I wasn't loved and I wasn't attached. There were boundaries that I never established, because I honestly couldn't have cared less. What you need to now understand is that I've gotten my world back. In abundance. I've got boundaries now. I have priorities. So, say your piece, do your dance - whatever you feel like needs to be said or done, but I will in turn do what I feel like I have to do to protect my world. What will never be acceptable is to be on the attack when it comes to either of the two of them, and God help you, if I feel like you're a threat to both, or to us…"

His intercom sounded and Young Gooch reported, "It's done boss. All of the subjects' Kid Danger and Mr. Feelgood memories have been removed from the revelation point through the present…" Both remaining members of the team gasped and looked at each other in horror.

"Gooooood. Report to Schwoz for a quality assurance survey for the changes in the new and improved memory swiper, please."

"Got it, Boss."

Henry noticed that his sleeve was unbuttoned, and casually corrected that. "You.. you stole all of Tyson's memories of you from the past three years?"

Henry furrowed his eyebrows, fixed his collar and corrected her. "I withdrew the privilege of him knowing my secrets. He gave up on me. He doesn't deserve them and he signed a waiver specifically detailing that memories would be removed should he leave the operation disgruntled."

"He was upset! You didn't even give us a chance to talk some sense into him!"

"I don't have room for the possibility of him walking out of here and calling the Swellview News. Swellview is way more dangerous than it once was. The secret of my identity can affect the safety of my lovers. I can't allow it. Thank you guys for this meeting, though. I can't WAIT to see what other ideas you might come up with for the rest of the show."

"Well… What… about the announcement? To… to your families?"

Henry smiled and clapped his hands together once, "See! He's still thinking. I love it. I'll talk with the others. You two have a wonderful day."

.

**My parents both think that I am a sexual deviant who, I'm not sure if they think that I went into this line of work to meet all of the nymphos and whatnot in Swellview and surrounding areas, but as I've tried to tell them numerous times, having a healthy, even highly populated sex life is completely normal, especially when boundaries are established and agreements are clearly stated. A woman goes to hang out with her friends and everyone talks up a gangbang that she reluctantly agrees to - problematic and possibly assault, depending on the details. A woman WANTS a gangbang and speaks with several friends regarding their desires and compromises, whether she does this only once or forty more times - perfectly healthy. The idea and concept of respecting one's body and things of that nature are generally steeped in the socialization of the times. Now, the way that we internalize problematic socialization definitely can alter the normalcy of these examples. For instance if the woman in either example grew up watching porn - her viewpoint of a gangbang would be influenced by that. If she grew up in a church and wore a purity ring for all of her adolescence and was given abstinence only sex "education..." If she had no access to porn, but realistic parents and an excellent sex education system… there still would be some remnants of what society says about all of these things, but she would be in the position to make healthy, fulfilling decisions about her body and her sexual interactions. I too am capable of this! My family needs to know that because I have two partners now, that is perfectly safe and healthy… and hopefully, their parents can come to see that, as well. **

.

Charlotte focused on her current records of the most recent findings with her project. There was no good way to tell her mother about Henry and Jasper. Her mother had _never _been the type of person who would be open to this. For all that she was conscious of and all that she believed Charlotte should have the independence to do… She never would be comfortable or supportive of a polyamorous relationship. She won't even CALL it that. Whenever Charlotte tried to tell her about before, she said something to the effect of, "That will never last, Honey. It's hard enough to dedicate your all to one man, much less two." Charlotte was _trying _to dedicate _her all _to two men. Not then, and not now.

What Charlotte did in a relationship was offer her partner a percentage of herself - selected energy, time, space, access, and in turn expected a certain amount from them, and in her mind THAT was the only type of relationship that made any kind of sense! What didn't make sense to her was that her mom thought that it was reasonable to be the type of person she raised her to be, but also simultaneously commit to another person in such a way that it could be described as "giving her all."

**If I gave my all, what would be left for me? I'm giving you what you deserve, and that itself is on a "if you deserve anything" basis. If you don't, it's over. But, never will I ever give **_**my all. **_**That's reserved for me.**

"Jasper… How would you say it? Like, if you and my mom were talking?" She asked. He looked up from his laptop and stared at her for a while, honestly lost, because this conversation came out of nowhere and moments before, he was researching the cosmetic benefits of breast milk. She'd mentioned it and he went down a rabbit hole. Now, he had to focus. _What did she ask him? Jasper… How would you say it? Like, if you and my mom were talking? What did that mean? OH!_

"Well, I would say, 'I know that this is a very strange arrangement from the outside looking in, but fortunately for you and your confusion, there's no necessity for you to understand it. All that is requested is your support and hopefully you don't have to fully understand someone that you love in order to give them that."

"WOW! Jasper… That was actually great."

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Char. I'm a little bit insulted by your decision to interject the word "actually" into that compliment."

"Gonna be honest with you, that's fair. Sorry, Booty Bear. I didn't mean because of you. I meant because I've known my mom my entire life and at least half of that, I've been poly and not able to figure it out and not able to figure out how to tell her. Now that I've figured it out… Trying to come out to her again, this time in such a serious capacity - it's terrifying. I just… Know that she'll disapprove. So the whole angle of the fact that she doesn't have to get it to support me is just what I need."

"Well, I never know what you've got going on. Whenever you talk about spirituality or science. Whenever you tell me about work and your interests… I try to keep up, but I rarely can, and it never changes what I think of you, how much I love you or support you. So, really, I was simply speaking from my personal experience."

She held her hand over her heart and moved to go hug him.

Henry came off of the elevator and smiled at them. "Okay… WITHOUT me?" He joked.

Charlotte unhanded Jasper and his arms missed her already. She told Henry, "Jasper just gave me the basis of my thesis to my mom about our relationship."

"Really? I thought that I had that covered," Henry said.

"You have the psychological and health portion, but Jasper has the bottom line. I already know from the last time that "Well, I'm a grown woman and I make my own decisions," will only lead to it being cited against me for the rest of my life. My mom is Petty Page with everyone but the one person she should have been petty with."

"Did you just…?" Henry asked.

"I love petty puns," Charlotte replied.

"**Petty White. Petty Wright. Petty Wap. Petty Labelle. Peter Pettygrew. Pettycake, Pettycake Baker's Man…"**

.

Mrs. Page looked really great. Henry hadn't seen her since he and Charlotte broke up… not like this, anyway. He'd see her around Swellview sometimes and he usually dodged her, because she'd warned him before that if he hurt her daughter, she'd have to hurt his feelings… and Henry didn't want her hurting his feelings. He'd seen her at the school before, at their job before, out in public when somebody did or said something to Charlotte… She was really good at hurting people's feelings, and he was someone who had very sensitive feelings, whether or not he would say so… about certain things, at least. Last thing he needed was for her to drag him in the street and talk about stuff that Charlotte might have confided in her with and loud talk him into dying of embarrassment.

So, any time that he noticed her in town, he hid and fled. He thought he was smooth with it until she opened the door of the house for them and said, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the front of Henry Hart's face and not his backside as he tries to run away before I have the chance to read him for filth…"

He turned red and laughed awkwardly. "It… Is… my face."

"Hmm," she said, unimpressed.

"Mama Page," Jasper said.

The woman squealed and threw her arms around Jasper and squeezed him very tightly, saying, "Son-in-Law! Now, you know that you can just say "Mama." Mama Page sounds like one of those old ladies in reality TV and I'm not even trying to have my face on there, much less have a nickname out there, in the world." She rubbed on his chest and asked in a low voice, "Why do you keep letting my daughter convince you to do crazy things? You know that she's going through something right now."

"I can hear you, Mom," Charlotte said and looked at Henry.

"Everybody come in," her mother said. When they were inside, she asked Charlotte, "You still mad at me?"

"I needed you and you refused to help me, but you let Dad be here. I'm not mad at you, but that is what happened and I should be able to feel things about it, whatever those feelings are. Let's not discuss it again, okay? That's not what dinner is about tonight."

Jasper's parents, Henry's parents and Charlotte's dad all were already there. Everyone hugged Charlotte, but Henry only hugged his own parents and Jasper's mom. Jasper didn't hug anybody else. Mama Page was enough for him, but he did smile and nod to his parents.

"**The reason that my parents are here is more for solidarity with Henry and Charlotte than for this announcement, or for their support. Whenever Henry and I initially got together, my dad called me a "fruit" and my mom told me that a nice looking boy like Henry was probably just using me, that I needed to find an ugly boy with low self esteem, like she did… And she thought that was a nice thing to say… That it was helpful. So, even though she took care of me when I almost died, speaking to my folks about my relationships isn't really... a thing I care to do."**

"So, should we all sit for dinner, then?" Mrs. Page asked and let everyone settle into their seats. She and Mr. Hart were seated next to each other, across from Mr. Page and Mrs. Hart. Jasper's parents were seated next to each other, though he could tell that they weren't getting along today, and he, Henry and Charlotte were seated across from them, with Charlotte in the middle. "I thought it was weird to arrange this dinner meeting. The last time these three families got together, I think you kids were in junior high."

"No, we've gotten together since then," Siren said.

"Not with the Dunlops," Mrs. Page said, and her tone was short with the woman.

Henry blinked and clapped his hands together once. "Well, we're all here now, is what really matters. There are things that have been mended and we just would like to celebrate that with all of you."

"What's been mended?" Mrs. Page asked, but she was looking at Jasper, a little bit worried.

Henry spoke, since it was he who'd said the thing she was responding to. "Well, Charlotte, Jasper and I no longer have the same negative feelings towards each other that we had not too long ago. We've been able to come together and fix things." He reached for one of each of their hands and leaned over Charlotte to make eye contact with her mother (who was on the other side of Jasper). "I'm making things right between the three of us. Atoning for things that I've done to them."

"Hmm," she said and glanced at Jake, then at her ex and Siren. "Well, that's nice, right? Nice that our children are able to fix things, after all of the betrayal and the hurt. Very mature." She stood and said, "I'm going to start fixing my plate. Jasper, there's peas over there. I couldn't bring myself to make fish sticks, so you'll have to settle for my pan fried fillets, instead."

"I love your pan fried fish, Mama P…" She threw him a look and he stopped himself from adding her last name. He looked at his mother and asked, "Can you pass the peas?"

Charlotte sang a little under her breath, "Pass the peas like we used to.." Her mom smiled at her and her dad chuckled. Henry felt left out of some kind of family joke, but invited it, because he knew that things were often awkward for her with the Pages these days.

When everyone's plate was full, Siren said, "So, Henry… You told me that you three have an important announcement. Was it the fact that you've gotten your friends back?"

He cleared his throat and said, "That's the first part of it."

She smiled and waited. He started eating. "Well? What's the next part?" Charlotte and Henry both looked at Jasper. Jasper had a mouth full of peas. Mrs. Page made THE BEST peas…

"Well…" he said, finished chewing, swallowed, took a sip of his beer and nodded his head, "We're in a relationship. The three of us."

"Like… Swingers?" Siren asked.

"No, Mom. Not like swingers. We're all in this relationship together."

Mr. Page said, "Well, Charlotte and Jasper have been in a relationship for like a year or more, so what, are you like their boy unicorn or something?"

"No. I'm now also in a relationship with both of them. It's a new relationship, not an add on to their relationship. It is called a polyamorous…"

"Why would you do this to yourself again?" Mrs. Page asked Charlotte. "You didn't learn your lesson from the last time? Of all the people that you would want to play this new age House game with, you'd pick the one that had you running across the country to avoid his face?"

"That was a long time ago," Siren said.

"I know! I had to visit my daughter out of town for _many _years. I know exactly how long it was. Time doesn't heal all wounds, though. If it did, then I would be fine with what happened in 1999, New Year's Eve. And, if you wanted to know, I am not fine with it." Siren wiped her mouth, looked at Mr. Page, then back to the three and said, "Well, _I _support the three of you, like a mother should."

Mrs. Page scoffed and laughed a little bit. _Like a mother should be out there having so much sex around town that her husband had to eventually just start lying and saying that they were swingers, even though he had no idea she was even doing it FOR YEARS, with his dumbass…_

"Mom…" Charlotte cut into her thoughts. "I know you and Mrs. Hart aren't the best of friends, but tonight isn't about her and Dad, or anything else."

"It kind of is, Charlotte. Where do you think you've gotten this weird habit of never being able to decide who you want to be with? You got it from him. You knew as well as I did what he was like and you internalized that. You normalized it."

"I. Am. Normal. I'm just not like _you. _Monogamy never made sense to me. Whenever you think about what you want in a partner, you think… one person might have it all? And if not, you think you should have to compromise away things that you expect or just be lonely while nobody meets your standards? If you do, that's you and you're normal too. We're just different types of normal. You're a normal monogamous person, and I am a normal _other."_

Her mom smiled gently, "I remember whenever you asked me about what if you liked two boys for different things. I explained monogamy to you and I remember the look on your face, so vividly. I remember it because I wasn't used to it. You were confused. It was weird to see. You were never easily confused and something that came as natural to me as air, your little genius brain couldn't cimprehend it." She sighed, "If you HAVE to do this, did you have to do this with… them? I love Jasper, you know that, but… I've been worried that he might leave you for another boy the entire time and you bring the worse boy to him and just serve him up."

"It isn't like that, Mrs. Page," Jasper said, not calling her Mama this time. Not while she was being _this _way. "It's like this. IF Mr. Page had come to you and said, I don't think that I can be with one person. I think I'm meant to spread my love to others and you would have said, 'Well, you do that right now and I tolerate it and act like I don't see it, so I'm glad that you told me about it," and you two remained involved and married and in love and he found whatever it was he was out there looking for and kept whatever he had with you and you, likewise, did the same, then someday, you both found something in the same person, and all three decided to share."

"Horrible example," she said. "I figured it was more like, Charlotte is very high maintenance and also likes to laugh. Henry's rich and you're funny."

"Whatever it takes for you to approve," Jasper said, chuckling.

She looked reluctant. "If… EITHER of you hurt her again, at all, I'm coming for you, and then I'm coming for your mothers, for good measure."

Siren said, "We are sitting right here."

"Good. That means that you know what will happen in the unfortunate event that your boys TRY me," Mrs. Page said.

Mr. Dunlop rolled his eyes and and mumbled something. Nobody seemed to hear him but Jasper, probably because he was _used _to him being discretely insulting. Something about "Dumb as dogshit" and "Banging fruits and coloreds." Jasper's eyes welled with tears and he glanced around to see if anybody heard him. The Pages didn't get up to beat the snot out of him, so he figured that they hadn't. But he _had. _

"Not the proper way to refer to people, Dad," he said.

Charlotte paused from spooning a huge chunk of baked vegan mac and cheese onto her plate and Henry covered his mouth and nose with both hands and said, "Please, let it go."So _Henry _had heard.

"No. He owes both of you an apology. He can say whatever he wants about me, but nobody is going to insult either of you. Not while I'M around."

"I apologize. I didn't intend to be heard. Moreso talkin' to m'self. And definitely talkin' 'bout YOU, not really them."

"You're a dick," Jasper said and dropped his fork on the table, trying not to cry.

Charlotte got up and marched towards the older man, but her mother caught her wrist and said, "Maybe the two of you should go?" To the Dunlops.

"I'll wait in the car. You keep eatin,'" Mr. Dunlop said. "I ain't takin' you out nowhere after this, so you better fill up." He left and Jasper let angry tears fall.

"He's why I was never that good at picking a man…"

Charlotte came back over to him and said, "Hey… Let's go talk to the stars about it, okay?" She rubbed his back and he nodded and got up. Henry and Charlotte made eye contact and somehow, he knew the look to mean that she'd take care of this, if he'd handle the parents. He was the therapist, after all and she was a woman. Jasper didn't need his man right now.

"What'd that tumbleweed even say?" Mrs. Page asked. Everybody looked at Henry, who sighed and shook his head.

"He said, should've named him Dumb as Dogshit, gonna die of AIDS banging fruits and coloreds."

The Harts gasped, Mr. Page rolled his eyes, Mrs. Dunlop kept eating like nobody said anything, and Mrs. Page asked, "Do those troglodytes still believe those stereotypes?" She shook her head, "You're a lot of things I don't care for, but I know that you're at least careful. I'll bet that you've never had so much as an STI."

"EVER!" Henry said, excited that for once, someone, even someone that kinda still hated him, realized that he would not just be transmitting things, willy nilly. "Thank you for realizing that."

"Swellview DEFINITELY would've been talking by now had anybody ever contracted anything from you," she said. "Mary Gaperman would've called me on threeway with Officer Walnut."

"Was not aware that they were associates, nor that you were friends with both."

"I work in public relations," she said. _Why had Henry thought that she was an assistant of some sort? _"I always know everything about everybody, whether I want to, or not," she threw Siren a look again. Siren rolled her eyes and bit a dinner roll aggressively.

Jasper and Charlotte came back and he looked better. "You okay, my baby?" She asked.

Charlotte answered for him, "He just needed to tell his problems to the stars, look up at their glory and realize that all of our problems are just so small when the universe is as big as it is."

Mrs. Page poured herself a glass of wine and asked Jasper, "Why do you keep on letting my daughter talk you into things?"

"She's so wise," Jasper said and winked at Charlotte.

His mother got up and said, "Thank you for the meal. Jasper… Call me if… You get sad again." He was going to ask her if he could just call her in general, but she rushed out, and probably was rushing right to a fight with his dad. He'd embarrassed her tonight. She would definitely give him lip about that, not like he cared.

"You're never gonna be like them," Charlotte said. "_We're _never gonna be like them."

"I know," he said. "I'm very lucky… to have both of you. Neither of you are like either of them."


	16. A Phoenix

**A Phoenix**

_Henry needed to settle things/make stuff right with everyone else for his own emotional balance and mental wellness. This included Chloe, Bianca, a number of pornstars he dated, only a couple of strippers, one unfortunate potential patient, rejected on fuckability basis, and of course the spa lady… There's also a few villains, but we won't discuss that! _

"HELLO?" Charlotte said, frustrated and now pushing his cheek with her big toe.

"What?" He asked, and playfully bit her foot.

"For the last filming thing, did you want to try to make it an event, or what? I like the thought of a party or something. Like, I would've wanted it to be the meeting with our parents, but that didn't feel like where things should end. What do you think, as the showrunner?"

"What does Jasper think?" Henry asked.

"He's asleep."

"Yeah, but I know you already ran it by him. You always talk to him about stuff first."

"I do not! And, I didn't. This is your baby. I'd talk to Jasper first if it wasn't directly something about you and your brainchild."

He sat up and she followed, both of them letting Jasper sleep as the shifted to the foot of the bed to discuss. "I want to make things right with all the others, and finally put it behind me, but I don't know how to do that without it affecting our peace, right here right now. But, I also don't know how not to do it and have it not affect my personal peace, right here, right now."

She thought for a moment and he watched her wheels spinning as she looked at her toes and moved them to a beat playing in her head. "Hmmm… What about a big event where they are all invited and you can get everything settled at it?"

"Like a party?"

"Hell and heavens no. Like a… roast."

"Like, a dinner where I serve roast, because I do make a mean roast…"

"Like they all get to come in, eat and drink and drag your ass to hell and back!" She whispered loudly.

"OHHHHHHHHHH! A roast!" He laughed at himself. "I think that's… doable."

"We can make a big event of it. Invite everybody that you know has issues with you to be on the panel and invite everybody else that you know to be in the audience, and that way, they get to say everything that they want to say and they get to know that everybody knows that they feel like that. But, also, it's a roast, so it might sting a little less."

"It won't, probably."

"Okay, but do you have a better idea?"

"No… Can you and Jasper maybe… plan it for me? Like, I can give you a list of guests and…"

"I can say yes for me, but you'll have to ask Jasper whenever he's awake."

"Thanks. Love you, Baby," he said. She tilted her head to the side as he planted a small, fast kiss on her lips. "What?"

"You just casually said 'Love you' and kinda… I wasn't expecting it," she said.

He sat there, thinking that surely he had been saying this, but maybe he hadn't. He couldn't remember. So, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's true."

She smiled and crawled over to his side of the bed. Henry was getting cuddles tonight. "Love you too."

.

So, while Henry was doing his work around Swellview, Jasper doing his thing at the lounge, and Charlotte was getting her findings together to petition for a grant for further research, the three of them began making the lists. The list of who would have the honors of roasting Henry, the guest list, the list of those that were either tentative or needed to try to speak with on a more personal level, because things just went entirely too wrong. Also, Charlotte was working on just completely cancelling Mr. Feelgood. "It's the end of an era, my friend," she said.

"But… It's not though. I've built a lot with him."

"And, I'm sure that it has been appreciated… But, you've also had a lot of masked rendezvous as him and if Henry is cutting that off, Mr. Feelgood needs a cut off too. Since we can't just have him go and apologize for it all, we should just nix him and replace him. I recommend that it doesn't happen close to the Roast of Henry Hart…"

"Dr. Henry Hart," Henry said. She made a note on her tablet, "Are you… Are you jotting that down to roast me later?"

"Yep!" She cheered, with a smile.

Jasper came off of the elevator, kissed Charlotte on the temple, kissed Henry on the neck and asked, "Where are we right now?"

"Henry's giving me some material for his roast," Charlotte said. Henry groaned. "Oh, and the cancellation and death of Mr. Feelgood. Thoughts?"

"That he make an announcement that says, "I never should have done this. I regret it, this is the new me and blows a bubble and turns into… whomever he will be next."

"See, Henry? Jasper has an idea."

"I don't hate it," Henry said, making his way to the auto snacker. "I don't know what to call myself, though. Whenever I became Feelgood, that was what I needed, who I needed. Someone who would help me to feel better about myself, because I hated who I had become. My human life and my hero life blend together. There's always so much overlap that I have no idea where one ends and one begins."

"Which is why he needs to die so that your phoenix... can rise... from the… ashes.." Charlotte said and started trailing off.

"What are you thinking about?" Henry wondered, returning to the couch with three bowls of popcorn.

"I'm thinking what if you were to become the Phoenix?" She asked.

He furrowed his eyebrows and Jasper said, "I've BEEN to Phoenix, nothing to write home about. I didn't even grow a mustache. Why would he want to name himself THAT?"

They both stared at him and Henry admitted, "I can't tell if he's serious or not."

"Oh, he's serious," She said. "So, ignore him." She pushed her tablet to Henry and activated the hologram mode of the software that she put into it. "Attention back to me. What if you became the Phoenix and all subsequent heroes of Swellview took on that mantle in the future? Instead of passing down Captain Man… which is both a very stupid name and a mantle that will be held probably for as long as you are alive. Ray is not even aging, as far as I can see. You'll be nearing retirement by the time he's ready to hang his mask."

"But with the Phoenix, whenever one bursts into flames, a new one is born!" Henry said.

Charlotte began to draw on her tablet and the costume in the hologram changed a little, "I can maybe add some flames to your outfit, as relish, oooh, to your accessories and stuff."

"Can you make flames come out of the car?" Henry asked. She made a deep sigh and pulled up the car, to start designing the changes she would need for something like that. Rocket boosters…

"Hey, Henry, do you think that maybe I could be your sidekick?" Jasper asked.

"No," both Henry and Charlotte said. He looked sad. They each explained, "I won't be able to concentrate on missions knowing that you're in danger a few feet away from me."

"I definitely will have trouble leading tactical ops with BOTH of you out there."

Jasper sighed, "What if I took some fighting lessons or something? Come on, I know that I can do better than 13 year old Henry with those bird arms and legs did!"

"Feel like a big man, Dude? That you can probably fight better than a kid on the doorstep of puberty?" Henry teased. Charlotte suppressed laughter. "You don't need to take any fighting lessons, unless you just want to. If something happens out there, I don't like the thought of both of us leaving Char alone."

"I don't like the thought of something happening and, and you're out there all on your own," Jasper said. "Then, both of us are left to have to think about how maybe it might not have happened if I was out there to have your back."

Henry placed both hands flat on the table and looked at Jasper, "And I don't like, the more likely event, that we'll be out there and something happens, you figure out a way to sacrifice yourself for me, then ME and Charlotte are left here, without the best part of our life here."

"So, what are you saying? That my life is more important than yours?" Jasper asked, fuming.

"Yeah! Yeah, I am saying that!"

Charlotte cut in with, "I think a better way to put it is… Henry has been doing this for a while. There's a certain level of stress within the relationship relating to what he does. Adding you to the field will add stress into our home. The odds of a worst case scenario with him are something that we've had time to accept and be used to, but he has enough experience that the odds are low. Whenever he adds a sidekick to the mix, those odds WILL increase again, and we don't need those odds AND our stress to increase at the same time. Both of your lives are important, neither more than the other, but I think that rationally, it's just wiser to only have Henry in the field."

Jasper flopped back, into a leaning position in his seat, slumped slightly, "It feels like you two don't trust me to be able to learn and be beneficial to the hero team. I could be perfect to have Henry's back and make sure that we both come home to you, but you two won't even entertain the idea of it."

"For the reasons that I just explained," Charlotte said. "What about whenever we begin raising children? You would have me… possibly be alone with them and grieving you both? If I wanted to join Henry on the field, would YOU be on board with it?"

"That's ridiculous. You're tiny and…"

"That's ridiculous! I'm glad that you said that, because that's exactly how I feel about you, a 30 year old man, trying to suddenly train to be a sidekick. Had you started a few years ago, maybe. Your joints will be getting ready to betray you by the time you get the routines down!" She fussed.

Jasper's eyes welled up with tears and Henry said, more gently, "This relationship can afford to lose me, but not either of you."

"We ALL feel that way!" Jasper said, wiping a tear with the back of his hand.

"Not Charlotte. Charlotte knows that if she has to give up one, it should be me," Henry said.

"That's not exactly.." Charlotte started, but she was getting a headache and Jasper's sniffles were breaking her heart. She got up and went to wrap her arms around him. He leaned onto her and let himself cry a little harder and Henry slid closer and wrapped his arms around his belly and laid his head on his back. "I don't want to lose either of you, but I've had the chance to be prepared to possibly lose one of you. I'm selfish, Jasper. I'm taking what I can get, and if I can keep one of you here, that's what I'll do." He squeezed her and she shifted to sit on his lap. He sat up a little, to give her room. Henry leaned back, but kept his arms around Jasper. "Do you understand that?" He nodded and she thumbed away his remaining tears and kissed him on the forehead. "How about you're watching his back, nearby and ready to swoop in with a vehicle and a weapon if it's too much?"

"Like… a rescue squad, but of one?"

"Yep," she said.

"Okay," he said and nodded his head. Henry was giving her a look, like that, too, was too dangerous for his comfort, but she would simply have to make sure that the vehicle and the weapons were on point, so that it would be surefire success. She blew Henry a kiss and he melted a little bit, gathering more of Jasper into his embrace. "Can I set the order of the roasters?" Jasper asked.

"YES!" Charlotte and Henry both exclaimed, glad to not have to do it themselves, and to be able to say "yes" to him after letting him down so hard only moments before.

Jasper reached for Charlotte's tablet and opened the folder for the roast. Henry and Charlotte gave each other silent glances, but neither of them let him go as he started working on it.


End file.
